Knee Joint Position Reproduction and Torque Measurements in Healthy Individuals using IMU

ACL reconstruction restores mechanical instability, but brings with it a significant decrease in muscle strength and knee proprioception. Planning of physiotherapy sessions greatly benefits from evaluating maximum isometric Quadriceps and Hamstrings strength and knee proprioception (associated to knee joint position reproduction). By doing so, ACL rehabilitation can be done based on objective measurements. However, until recently, there were no lo/-cost devices that allowed these measurements to be performed in clinical settings. we studied 24 healthy volunteers: 12 women aged 26.0 ± 5.7 and 12 men 26.9 ± 4.7. BMI was 24.4 ± 4.9 and 23.7 ± 2.1 respectively. To measure maximal isometric force and knee joint position reproduction, we used DINABANG, a light/eight and portable device developed for both research and clinical application. women showed a maximum isometric strength of Quadriceps 791,7 N/kg ± 226,3 N/kg and Hamstrings 410,2 N/kg ± 99,5 N/kg, while the values for men were 891,7 N/kg ± 232,2 N/kg and 503,5 N/kg ± 116,6 N/kg respectively; differences statistically significant between gender. Knee joint position reproduction was quantified using the joint position sense test, targeting the angle of 40° and 65°. For 40° we did not find significant differences in proprioception between women and men (p= 0.265). Ho/ever, for 65°, p value (p=0.06) was very close to the value corresponding to statistical significance. Conclusions The DINABANG device can be used to objectively measure maximum isometric strength and joint position reproduction, for planning and during follo/-up of ACL rehabilitation.