In Vivo Monitoring of Dog’s Knee Flexion Using Wearable Wrap-Around Coils

Our aim in this paper is to validate a new class of wrap-around coils for seamless monitoring of joint flexion angles under in vivo settings in dogs. Resonant wrap-around coils operating at 31 MHz of unequal radii are integrated on a knee brace and are shown to measure knee joint flexion of a dog (golden retriever) from 30° (full extension) to 110°. This method has the potential to operate in non-contrived environments, hence overcoming shortcomings in state-of-the-art motion capture. By allowing for continuous monitoring of joint flexion, large datasets can be collected in natural settings to better understand knee function and help develop improved rehabilitation protocols.