QL-282 - Emerging Medical Sensory Technology

This Quick Look (QL) study identifies Commercial Off the Shelf (COTS) emerging medical sensory technologies that are relevant to the rehabilitation of military and security personnel with combat injuries. The emphasis of this report is on technologies for body measuring, haptic feedback, patient guidance and remote and oblivious body sensing. There is a wide range of sensory technologies that are used to monitor rehabilitation by collecting real-time data. These data are sensed either by ambient sensors, that measure the patient’s activities from a distance, or sensors that are attached directly to the body. In some cases, sensors are even incorporated within the body to closely observe physiological and chemical changes. From the reviewed literature, it is evident that the technology trend is to develop patient-centric rehabilitation systems that incorporate smart mobile technology with visual analytics features that provide useful information to medics and patients. This report includes recommendations of sensory technologies for rehabilitation that are adopted within the clinical environment, as well as patient-centric devices that are used away from clinic. Finally, it includes tabular summary of hardware and software specifications, nature of application, cost and training requirements on some of the products currently available.