A Wearable IoT Device for Lower Body Clinical Rehabilitation

Abstract

The Internet of Things (IoT) has been developed and deployed widely as a result of advances in information and communication technologies. It comprises a set of devices that interact to provide values and services for many industries, including the healthcare sector. Multiple IoT technologies are currently in use in healthcare to manage the hospital environment, with examples including constant patient tracking and home monitoring. The IoT can optimise hospital capacity and suggest ideas for healthcare services; however, the present review observes that more attention should be paid to systems for long-term lower-body rehabilitation at patients’ homes, especially during their recovery period. Due to factors such as their patients’ age, forgetfulness, and carelessness, doctors cannot always rely on the information that the patient provides, and this could subsequently affect the quality of the medical treatment. This project aims to provide a wearable IoT device that can help to ameliorate lower-body clinical rehabilitation by providing doctors with information – which is more accurate – on their patients’ recovery. The device helps to record the patient's feet position and send this information to the doctor so that the doctor can provide better medical advice. Moreover, due to the COVID- 19 pandemic which the entire world is currently dealing with, and perhaps may have to deal with in the future, the present project also aims to reduce the burden on hospitals via minimising the need for regular visits by patients, as doctors will have the ability to assess the condition of their patients from a computer remotely. In addition, the present project endeavours to introduce to the market a moderately-priced product that offers priceless functions for lower-body rehabilitation. In order to achieve the goals of this project, a mixed-method approach was adopted; this involved the use of a sequential technique, which is a combination of the systematic literature review (SLR) and qualitative and quantitative methods. The above-described approach made it possible to propose then confirm the IoT solution framework. Firstly, in order to paint a comprehensive picture of the research background of the technologies used for lower-body clinical rehabilitation for patients, an SLR was conducted. The SLR process yielded only a few relevant papers that presented a smart solution for lower-body clinical rehabilitation. After reviewing and discussing the relevant papers, it was found that none of them had provided a solution for lower-body clinical rehabilitation, and particularly patients’ feet position. Following this, a survey targeting doctors was conducted as part of the project in order to establish what extra support doctors need for their patients during the lower-body rehabilitation period. It was found that doctors are interested in using smart technology to track their patients and they claimed that this could aid them in providing better medical advice and help their patients by minimising routine visits (especially for old and weak patients). Subsequently, a number of experts in the fields of computing and IoT were interviewed in order to review and confirm the IoT solution proposed by the researcher in this project. The experts confirmed the IoT solution and suggested some features which were considered by the researcher. After the proposed solution had been confirmed by the experts, the 4Ds approach was implemented. The approach consists of four stages; the first stage, Define, helped to identify all of the components needed, while the second stage, Design, aided in designing the IoT solution, and the third stage, Develop, helped to improve the IoT solution; the final IoT solution was produced in the last stage, namely Deliver. The 4Ds approach helped to execute the implementation of the IoT device