9 Jan. 2012 - New EU project INTERACTION

Monitoring the quality of body movements in stroke subjects during daily life will improve continued rehabilitation after release from the hospital

Under the 7^TH Framework Programme the European Commission has granted 2.6 million euros over the next three years to the INTERACTION consortium, consisting of 6 partners joined in developing and testing sensory modalities in clothing to assess the quality of body movements in stroke subjects during daily life in order to assist their continued rehabilitation.

Stroke has a major impact on our society: in a recent report of the World Health Organization (WHO, 2010), it is listed second as cause of death and seventh as cause of disability-adjusted life years. The prevalence of stroke rises with age: 1.0%/2.7% for males/females in the age range of 40 to 59, 7.4%/7.5% in the range of 60 to 79, and 15.4%/12.6% above 80 (American Heart Association, 2010). With the rising of age of the Western population, the burden of stroke on society will therefore rise dramatically.

Currently, the period after a stroke patient returns home from the rehabilitation hospital is a black-box to the physician, having no information about the intensity and quality of a patient’s daily-life motor activities and adherence to the prescribed training program and given advice. This results in unnecessary high levels of disability and complications.

In future, when using the INTERACTION system, physician will be able to continuously evaluate the patient’s performance in handling objects in the environment and to control body balance during daily-life. Current methods only allow assessing the frequency of such activities. In contrast, the new INTERACTION system allows to assess how well these activities are performed: is grasping of objects performed fluently and well-adapted to the characteristics of the objects and is balance controlled adequately when it is challenged by variable gait and interactions with the environment?

The key principle used is the combination of measuring muscle activation, force applied to the environment and body movements. Force and movement provide information about the characteristics of the environment that the subject interacts with, the work done on the environment and the quality of the performed movement tasks [1]. At the feet, they provide information about how foot placement and loading control body balance [2]. In addition, muscle activation provides information on movement control by the central nervous system, which is affected in stroke subjects.

The INTERACTION consortium will develop this new assessment concept, implement it in sensorized clothes, integrating textile-based deformation, EMG sensing and micromechanical inertial movement and force sensors [3], and develop new telesupervision and –feedback that is well integrated in clinical training concepts. The INTERACTION system will be first evaluated in a controlled clinical setting and, subsequently, the proof-of-concept will be demonstrated in stroke subjects during daily-life.

INTERACTION will improve the care and therapy of persons who suffered a stroke. Clinical professionals will be able to evaluate their performance and to coach and optimize training programs. Thus, the efficiency of training programs for persons who suffered a stroke will increase and the function of their extremities will be preserved maximally. The system reduces the workload of clinical staff in healthcare and greatly minimize care time and cost.

The participants of the INTERACTION consortium are: The University of Twente (Netherlands), the University of Pisa (Italy), Roessingh Research and Development (Netherlands), University of Zürich (Switzerland), and the companies Xsens technologies (Netherlands) and Smartex (Italy).

[1] P.H. Veltink, H.G. Kortier, H.M. Schepers, Sensing power transfer between the human body and the environment, IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering, vol. 56, 2009, pp. 1711-1718.
[2] H.M. Schepers, E.H.F. van Asseldonk, J.H. Buurke, P.H. Veltink, Ambulatory Estimation of Center of Mass Displacement during Walking, IEEE transactions on Biomedical Engineering, vol. 56, pp. 1189-1195, 2009
[3] D. de Rossi, P.H. Veltink, Wearable technology for biomechanics: e-textile or micromechanical sensors?, IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Magazine, vol. 29, issue 3, 2010, pp. 37-43

Website of the INTERACTION project: www.interaction4stroke.eu

Primary contact on behalf of the consortium:
Peter H. Veltink (Project Coordinator), University of Twente, the Netherlands
Tel (+31) 53 4892760
Email: P.H.Veltink@utwente.nl

	Home > News > 9 Jan. 2012 - New EU project INTERACTION
Home Research Education Entrepreneurship Organization Special Projects Events News Intranet Sitemap Search	9 Jan. 2012 - New EU project INTERACTION Monitoring the quality of body movements in stroke subjects during daily life will improve continued rehabilitation after release from the hospital Under the 7^TH Framework Programme the European Commission has granted 2.6 million euros over the next three years to the INTERACTION consortium, consisting of 6 partners joined in developing and testing sensory modalities in clothing to assess the quality of body movements in stroke subjects during daily life in order to assist their continued rehabilitation. Stroke has a major impact on our society: in a recent report of the World Health Organization (WHO, 2010), it is listed second as cause of death and seventh as cause of disability-adjusted life years. The prevalence of stroke rises with age: 1.0%/2.7% for males/females in the age range of 40 to 59, 7.4%/7.5% in the range of 60 to 79, and 15.4%/12.6% above 80 (American Heart Association, 2010). With the rising of age of the Western population, the burden of stroke on society will therefore rise dramatically. Currently, the period after a stroke patient returns home from the rehabilitation hospital is a black-box to the physician, having no information about the intensity and quality of a patient’s daily-life motor activities and adherence to the prescribed training program and given advice. This results in unnecessary high levels of disability and complications. In future, when using the INTERACTION system, physician will be able to continuously evaluate the patient’s performance in handling objects in the environment and to control body balance during daily-life. Current methods only allow assessing the frequency of such activities. In contrast, the new INTERACTION system allows to assess how well these activities are performed: is grasping of objects performed fluently and well-adapted to the characteristics of the objects and is balance controlled adequately when it is challenged by variable gait and interactions with the environment? The key principle used is the combination of measuring muscle activation, force applied to the environment and body movements. Force and movement provide information about the characteristics of the environment that the subject interacts with, the work done on the environment and the quality of the performed movement tasks [1]. At the feet, they provide information about how foot placement and loading control body balance [2]. In addition, muscle activation provides information on movement control by the central nervous system, which is affected in stroke subjects. The INTERACTION consortium will develop this new assessment concept, implement it in sensorized clothes, integrating textile-based deformation, EMG sensing and micromechanical inertial movement and force sensors [3], and develop new telesupervision and –feedback that is well integrated in clinical training concepts. The INTERACTION system will be first evaluated in a controlled clinical setting and, subsequently, the proof-of-concept will be demonstrated in stroke subjects during daily-life. INTERACTION will improve the care and therapy of persons who suffered a stroke. Clinical professionals will be able to evaluate their performance and to coach and optimize training programs. Thus, the efficiency of training programs for persons who suffered a stroke will increase and the function of their extremities will be preserved maximally. The system reduces the workload of clinical staff in healthcare and greatly minimize care time and cost. The participants of the INTERACTION consortium are: The University of Twente (Netherlands), the University of Pisa (Italy), Roessingh Research and Development (Netherlands), University of Zürich (Switzerland), and the companies Xsens technologies (Netherlands) and Smartex (Italy). [1] P.H. Veltink, H.G. Kortier, H.M. Schepers, Sensing power transfer between the human body and the environment, IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering, vol. 56, 2009, pp. 1711-1718. [2] H.M. Schepers, E.H.F. van Asseldonk, J.H. Buurke, P.H. Veltink, Ambulatory Estimation of Center of Mass Displacement during Walking, IEEE transactions on Biomedical Engineering, vol. 56, pp. 1189-1195, 2009 [3] D. de Rossi, P.H. Veltink, Wearable technology for biomechanics: e-textile or micromechanical sensors?, IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Magazine, vol. 29, issue 3, 2010, pp. 37-43 Website of the INTERACTION project: www.interaction4stroke.eu Primary contact on behalf of the consortium: Peter H. Veltink (Project Coordinator), University of Twente, the Netherlands Tel (+31) 53 4892760 Email: P.H.Veltink@utwente.nl