I-Corps: An Artificial Intelligence-Driven Wearable Sensor-Based System for Precision Rehabilitation

该I-Corps项目更广泛的影响/商业潜力是开发检测、治疗和监测下肢骨关节炎患者或有下肢骨关节炎风险患者异常步态生物力学的技术。核心技术创新是为临床医生及其患者提供检测非典型行走力曲线的能力，部署精确的生物反馈治疗以优化关节健康，并监测步态以保持健康的运动曲线。下肢骨关节炎是全球残疾的第11大原因。仅在美国，OA患者的自付医疗费用就比没有骨关节炎的人多花费近48亿美元。骨关节炎无法治愈，预防疾病发作和/或缓解进展的康复选择仍然非常有限。适当的步态生物力学用于将力分布在下肢关节表面上，从而保持关节功能和组织健康。不幸的是，目前的临床选择是不能够优化下肢关节力的关键，以保持健康的关节组织，防止和减缓骨关节炎的发展。这个I-Corps项目是基于技术的发展，能够检测和修改异常的力量在步行和积极影响关节力学和生物学。不检测、治疗和监测骨关节炎患者的异常步态生物力学会导致潜在的破坏性健康和经济后果。为了克服这些限制，该团队开发了一种低成本且临床可行的基于传感器的可穿戴系统，该系统利用人工智能和云计算来取代复杂的研究级设备，以检测，治疗和监测导致OA发作和进展的异常下肢力量。该系统包括一个用户界面，能够提供以前无法访问的数据对下肢力量的病人和他们的护理提供者，并部署以病人为中心的生物反馈治疗。这个奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得通过评估使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准的支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is the development of technology to detect, treat, and monitor aberrant gait biomechanics in patients with or at risk for lower extremity osteoarthritis. The central technological innovation is to provide clinicians and their patients the capability to detect atypical walking force profiles, deploy precision biofeedback treatments to optimize joint health, and monitor gait to maintain healthy movement profiles. Lower extremity osteoarthritis is the 11th leading cause of global disability. In the US alone, individuals with OA spend nearly $4.8 billion more in out-of-pocket healthcare costs than those without osteoarthritis. There is no cure for osteoarthritis and rehabilitation options for preventing disease onset and/or mitigating progression remain critically limited. Proper gait biomechanics act to distribute forces across lower extremity joint surfaces and thereby preserve joint function and tissue health. Unfortunately, current clinical options are not capable of optimizing the lower extremity joint forces critical to maintain healthy joint tissues and prevent the development and slow the progression of osteoarthritis.This I-Corps project is based on the development of technology with the ability to detect and modify aberrant forces during walking and positively influence joint mechanics and biology. Not detecting, treating, and monitoring aberrant gait biomechanics in osteoarthritis patients leads to potentially devastating health and financial consequences. To overcome these limitations, the team developed a low-cost and clinically-feasible wearable sensor-based system that leverages artificial intelligence and cloud computing to replace sophisticated research-grade equipment to detect, treat, and monitor aberrant lower extremity forces that lead to OA onset and progression. The system includes a user interface capable of providing previously inaccessible data on lower extremity forces to patients and their care providers, and deploying patient-centered biofeedback treatments.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.