Unlocking Knee Healing With a Bandage

A bandage developed by researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Engineering and Automation IPA in Stuttgart, has the ability to measure progress of motion on an injured knee. The bandage contains sensors that continuously measure and record the range of motion and send updates to doctors and patients. Additionally other information such as degree of movement is also tracked over time. Records of this information can help doctors see the healing progress and determine what, if any, adjustments need to be made. Visually seeing the gradual but definite improvement over time can give patients a mental boost while they are going through the slow healing process.

Fortunately these sensors do not disrupt the healing progression. Unfortunately they currently are only available for knee injuries. The future goal is to apply sensors to other bandages for shoulder or hip injuries, but such complexity of movement in all three axes creates a bit of a challenge. One possible solution that is being considered is to pair this bandage technology with 3D sensor systems. Once perfected, this could have huge implications for the sports world. Not only would this data improve the morale of the patient, it could also clue managers and fantasy sports aficionados to when an athlete will be coming off the DL. Ref. gizmag.com, sportstechreview.com Pic. sportstechreview.com