Force Sensing for an Instrument-Assisted Soft Tissue Manipulation Device

2017 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ahmed M. Alotaibi ◽  
Sohel Anwar ◽  
M. Terry Loghmani ◽  
Stanley Chien

Instrument-assisted soft tissue manipulation (IASTM) is a form of mechanotherapy, e.g., massage, that uses rigid devices which may be machined or cast. The delivered force, which is a critical parameter during IASTM, is not measured and not standardized in current clinical IASTM practice. In addition to the force, the angle of treatment and stroke frequency play an important role during IASTM. For accurate IASTM treatment, there is a strong need to scientifically characterize the IASTM delivered force, angle of treatment, and stroke frequency. This paper presents a novel, mechatronic design of an IASTM device that can measure the localized pressure on the soft tissue in a clinical treatment. The proposed design uses a three-dimensional (3D) load cell, which can measure all three-dimensional force components simultaneously. The device design was implemented using an IMUduino microcontroller board which provides tool orientation angles. These orientation angles were used for coordinate transformation of the measured forces to the tool–skin interface. Additionally, the measured force value was used to compute the stroke frequency. This mechatronic IASTM tool was validated for force measurements in the direction of tool longitudinal axis using an electronic plate scale that provided the baseline force values to compare with the applied force values measured by the tool. The load cell measurements and the scale readings were found to agree within the expected degree of accuracy.

Author(s):  
Ahmed M. Alotaibi ◽  
Sohel Anwar ◽  
M. Terry Loghmani ◽  
Stanley Chien

Instrument assisted soft tissue mobilization (IASTM) is a form of massage using rigid manufactured or cast devices. The delivered force, which is a critical parameter in massage during IASTM, has not been measured or standardized for most clinical practices. In addition to the force, the angle of treatment and frequency play an important role during IASTM. As a result, there is a strong need to characterize the delivered force to a patient, angle of treatment, and stroke frequency. This paper proposes a novel mechatronic design for a specific instrument from Graston Technique® (Model GT-3), which is a frequently used tool to clinically deliver localize pressure to the soft tissue. The design uses a 3D load cell, which can measure all three force components force simultaneously. The overall design is implemented with an IMUduino microcontroller chip which can also measure tool orientation angles and provide computed stroke frequency. The prototype of the mechatronic IASTM tool was validated for force measurements using an electronic plate scale that provided the baseline force values to compare with the applied force magnitudes measured by the device. The load cell measurements and the scale readings were found to be in agreement within the expected degree of accuracy. The stroke frequency was computed using the force data and determining the peaks during force application. The orientation angles were obtained from the built-in sensors in the microchip.


Author(s):  
Ahmed M. Alotaibi ◽  
Sohel Anwar ◽  
M. Terry Loghmani

Instrument-assisted soft tissue manipulation (IASTM) is a form of manual therapy which is performed with rigid cast tools. The applied force during the IASTM process has not been quantified or regulated. Nor have the angle of treatment and strokes frequency been quantified which contribute to the overall recovery process. This paper presents a skin modeling analysis used in the design of a novel mechatronic device that measures force in an IASTM application with localized pressures, similar to traditional, nonmechatronic IASTM devices that are frequently used to treat soft tissue dysfunctions. Thus, quantifiable soft tissue manipulation (QSTM) represents an advancement in IASTM. The innovative mechatronic QSTM device is based on one-dimensional (1D) compression load cells, where only four compression force sensors are needed to quantify all force components in three-dimensional (3D) space. Here, such a novel QSTM mechatronics device is simulated, analyzed, and investigated using finite element analysis (FEA). A simplified human arm was modeled to investigate the relationship between the measured component forces, the applied force, and the stress and strain distribution on the skin surface to validate the capability of the QSTM instrument. The results show that the QSTM instrument as designed is able to correlate the measured force components to the applied tool-tip force in a straight movement on the skin model.


Author(s):  
Serge Reynaud ◽  
Astrid Lambrecht

The Casimir force is an effect of quantum vacuum field fluctuations, with applications in many domains of physics. The ideal expression obtained by Casimir, valid for perfect plane mirrors at zero temperature, has to be modified to take into account the effects of the optical properties of mirrors, thermal fluctuations, and geometry. After a general introduction to the Casimir force and a description of the current state of the art for Casimir force measurements and their comparison with theory, this chapter presents pedagogical treatments of the main features of the theory of Casimir forces for one-dimensional model systems and for mirrors in three-dimensional space.


Diagnostics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 757
Author(s):  
Maged Sultan Alhammadi ◽  
Abeer Abdulkareem Al-mashraqi ◽  
Rayid Hussain Alnami ◽  
Nawaf Mohammad Ashqar ◽  
Omar Hassan Alamir ◽  
...  

The study sought to assess whether the soft tissue facial profile measurements of direct Cone Beam Computed Tomography (CBCT) and wrapped CBCT images of non-standardized facial photographs are accurate compared to the standardized digital photographs. In this cross-sectional study, 60 patients with an age range of 18–30 years, who were indicated for CBCT, were enrolled. Two facial photographs were taken per patient: standardized and random (non-standardized). The non-standardized ones were wrapped with the CBCT images. The most used soft tissue facial profile landmarks/parameters (linear and angular) were measured on direct soft tissue three-dimensional (3D) images and on the photographs wrapped over the 3D-CBCT images, and then compared to the standardized photographs. The reliability analysis was performed using concordance correlation coefficients (CCC) and depicted graphically using Bland–Altman plots. Most of the linear and angular measurements showed high reliability (0.91 to 0.998). Nevertheless, four soft tissue measurements were unreliable; namely, posterior gonial angle (0.085 and 0.11 for wrapped and direct CBCT soft tissue, respectively), mandibular plane angle (0.006 and 0.0016 for wrapped and direct CBCT soft tissue, respectively), posterior facial height (0.63 and 0.62 for wrapped and direct CBCT soft tissue, respectively) and total soft tissue facial convexity (0.52 for both wrapped and direct CBCT soft tissue, respectively). The soft tissue facial profile measurements from either the direct 3D-CBCT images or the wrapped CBCT images of non-standardized frontal photographs were accurate, and can be used to analyze most of the soft tissue facial profile measurements.


2021 ◽  
Vol 46 (4) ◽  
pp. 352-359
Author(s):  
Susumu Saito ◽  
Itaru Tsuge ◽  
Hiroki Yamanaka ◽  
Naoki Morimoto

Wassel VI radial polydactyly is associated with metacarpal adduction and radial deviation of the metacarpophalangeal joint of the ulnar duplicate. The soft tissue abnormalities responsible for these deformities were characterized using preoperative multi-planar three-dimensional ultrasound and intraoperative observation in four patients. In all patients, the abductor pollicis brevis and superficial head of the flexor pollicis brevis inserted into the radial first metacarpal, whereas the adductor pollicis and deep head of the flexor pollicis brevis inserted into the ulnar thumb. Aberrant location of the flexor pollicis longus and absence of the A1 pulley system was associated with severe radial deviation. An additional superficial thenar muscle along the ulnar metacarpal was associated with minimal metacarpal adduction. Uneven forces on the ulnar duplicate could be associated with these characteristic deformities and joint instability. Knowledge of these abnormalities allows better planning of surgery and further insight into this rare radial polydactyly configuration. Level of evidence: II


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