Design of a Smart Posture Corrective Orthosis for Kyphotic Patients

Abstract

This project aims to design an innovative smart posture corrective garment that monitors, mitigates, and corrects the kyphotic spine. Kyphosis is a spine deformity of an abnormal excessive outward curve of the thoracic and sacral regions due to congenital disabilities, Scheuermann’s disease, poor posture, or spine's malformation overtime. Some moderate kyphosis cases continue to get more severe without being monitored continuously, causing back pain, spine stiffness, and muscle atrophy. The proposed system uses inertial measurement units for posture monitoring along with a designed electrical stimulation unit that are all embedded in a semirigid spinal orthosis. The results of the system simulation on LabVIEW software and NI Multisim software are presented in this paper. This system attains the need for an accurate continuous telemonitoring and prevents deformity progression via three-point pressure design that embeds electrical stimulators (ES) for muscles weakness and pain management.