A Smart Portable Goniometer-Based Knee Rehabilitation Device Using Arduino Microprocessor and Sensors

Every year, over 1 million emergency room visits and 1.9 million visits to primary care physicians are due to knee pain; knee pain results in a knee flexion contracture (functional loss of knee extension), decreased strength, and decreased function. Knee-injured patients can recover faster if they receive professional rehabilitation training. However, since professional rehabilitation training is expensive, tedious, and requires high professional knowledge, they are not accessible to many patients. Compared to the general population, athletes have a higher probability to suffer from knee injuries, and the inability to recover quickly or completely can easily affect their careers. By using a low-cost Arduino microprocessor and sensors, a new wearable non-invasive knee rehabilitation device is created, which can provide rehabilitation training tutorials through the accompanying software and prompt the user in real-time whether the posture is correct, thus helping the injured person to perform rehabilitation training in a more standard and safe manner. Compared with the large and expensive devices available on the market, this device has the advantages of being miniature, portable, and low-cost, and aims to provide inexpensive and convenient rehabilitation training guidance for athletes with knee injuries to help them recover quickly and return to the field of play.