Closing the Wearable Gap—Part VIII: A Validation Study for a Smart Knee Brace to Capture Knee Joint Kinematics

Background: Wearable technology is used by clinicians and researchers play a critical role in biomechanical assessments rehabilitation. Objective: The purpose of this research to validate soft robotic stretch (SRS) sensor embedded compression knee brace (smart brace) against motion capture system focusing on joint kinematics. Methods: Sixteen participants donned the smart completed three separate tasks: non-weight bearing flexion/extension, bodyweight air squats, gait trials. Adjusted R2 for goodness fit (R2), root mean square error (RMSE), absolute (MAE) between SRS kinematic data all tasks were assessed. Results: For flexion/extension: = 0.799, RMSE 5.470, MAE 4.560; squats: 0.957, 8.127, 6.870; trials: 0.565, 9.190, 7.530 observed. Conclusions: demonstrated higher accuracy during weight-bearing squats followed flexion/extension lower gait, which can be attributed position orientation, rather than range achieved each task.