Diagnostic knee arthrometer for detecting acl structural changes
AssigneeThe Regents of the University of California
InventorDavid Hawkins
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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.
Claims35
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's skin;
- a tibial shear force applicator coupled to the support frame and 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.
A knee arthrometer 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's skin;
- a tibial shear force applicator coupled to the support frame and 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 to calculate one or more of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) force or displacement.
A method for measuring one or more physiological characteristics of a subject's knee, comprising:
- stabilizing an upper leg of the subject;
- coupling one or more force transducers configured to couple to a lower leg region of the subject;
- coupling one or more potentiometers configured to the leg of the subject;
- coupling one or more electrodes to the subject's skin;
- applying a tibial shear force to the lower leg of the subject;
- and
- analyzing one or more signals from the one or more transducers, potentiometers and skin electrodes to calculate one or more of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) force and displacement
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.