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US 10,327,694 B2Granted
Diagnostic knee arthrometer for detecting ACL structural changes
AssigneeThe Regents of the University of California
InventorDavid Hawkins
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Devices and methods are disclosed for quantifying temporal changes in human anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) structural properties, such as Anterior-Posterior tibial shear force (TSF) and Anterior-Posterior tibial shear displacement (TSD) for testing ACL overuse injury during training and minimizing or preventing ACL injury.
Claims25
An apparatus for measuring one or more physiological characteristics of a subject's knee, comprising:
- a support frame configured for stabilizing an upper leg of the subject;
- one or more force transducers configured to couple to the support frame and lower leg of the subject;
- one or more potentiometers configured to couple to the support frame and leg of the subject;
- one or more electrodes configured to be coupled to the subject;
- a tibial shear force applicator coupled to the support frame and configured to couple to the lower leg of the subject;
- a processor;
- and
- programming executable on the processor for analyzing one or more signals from the one or more transducers, potentiometers and skin electrodes;
- wherein the tibial shear force applicator is positioned on the support frame for attachment via a coupling to the lower leg at a location below a tibial tuberosity of the lower leg;
- wherein the one or more force transducers comprises a first force transducer coupled to the tibial shear force applicator and a second force transducer coupled to the subject at a location at or near an ankle of the subject;
- and
- wherein the programming is configured for calculating an Anterior-Posterior tibial shear force (TSF) as a function of a difference between the signals from the first force transducer and the second force transducer.
9 more elements
An apparatus for measuring one or more physiological characteristics of a subject's knee, comprising:
- a support frame configured for stabilizing an upper leg of the subject;
- one or more force transducers configured to couple to the support frame and lower leg of the subject;
- one or more potentiometers configured to couple to the support frame and leg of the subject;
- one or more electrodes configured to be coupled to the subject;
- a tibial shear force applicator coupled to the support frame and configured to couple to the lower leg of the subject;
- a processor;
- and
- programming executable on the processor for analyzing one or more signals from the one or more transducers, potentiometers and skin electrode;
- wherein said programming executable on the processor is configured to calculate one or more of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) force or displacement from the one or more signals from the one or more transducers, potentiometers and skin electrodes;
- wherein the one or more potentiometers comprise a pair of string potentiometers positioned substantially perpendicular to the lower leg in the (A-P) direction;
- and
- wherein the programming is configured for calculating an Anterior-Posterior tibial shear force (TSF) as a function of a difference between the signals from the first force transducer and the second force transducer.
9 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.