Weight bearing compliance measurement device

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I am working up a funding proposal to develop a logging device which will measure 2 aspects of behavior;

1 weight-bearing time

And

2 foot-wear use time.

I am seeking information generally from podarena members regarding value and characteristics of such a device.
Lit search I have done identifies compliance issues particularly with diabetes mellitus foot complications. Measurement done with published studies seems to rely on self reported behavior which has obvious associated problems.
I am unaware that there is any product on the market which will accomplish reliable objective logging data.

I believe that there is a useful market for such a device in 3 key areas.

1 Providing reliable data for research studies involving any control for time of weight-bearing activity.
2 Monitoring patient compliance in clinical setting
3 Medico-legal issues with poor outcome and post surgery/ intervention compliance behavior.
My questions are;

1 Is anyone aware of such a device or anyone developing anything along these lines?
2 What would maximum cost per patient that would be tolerated for a single use device and a reusable device?

3 Apart from logging activity date and time is there any other data that would be desirable?
4 Assuming I am correct in identifying a need, I need a couple of letters concurring this from respected researchers. If there is anyone reading this that might help me with this please contact me privately.

Cheers


Martin

The St. James Foot Clinic
1749 Portage Ave.
Winnipeg
Manitoba
R3J 0E6
phone [204] 837 FOOT (3668)
fax [204] 774 9918
www.winnipegfootclinic.com

 

What about temperature? The most useful use for activity monitors is going to be in diabetes, but preulcerative lesions can show up as increased areas of temperature (assuming the device you planning is an 'insole').

 

Hi Craig

Yes I agree temperature would be interesting to log.

My initial thoughts on that are:

Currently the main thrust for my perceived measurement need is to be able to objectively determine pattern of weight-bearing activity and if footwear and/or foot orthoses are actually being used and if so when and for how long without reliance on self reporting which may be unreliable and therefore easily confound research studies. I am not aware that any studies have been able to accomplish this outside of self reporting, please correct me if I am wrong. My impression within my own clinical experience is a wide range of reliability to questioning regarding compliance and without getting into trying to explain this a tool which removes this likely error would seem very valuable.

Cost is a major issue in terms of attracting funding both for developing the idea and subsequent product market value, hence my attempt to solicit opinion from podarena members. Having spent some time exploring the use of miniaturised accelerometers over the past year I can see their potential as an inexpensive means to measure activity. This has already been done extensively in areas such as fall research. Having separate measurements of lower limb and foot-wear even at crude level of vibration detection over a certain threshold would allow comparative data logging and from an engineering point of view a fairly straightforward task . . . I thinkJ.

What kind of sample rate would be appropriate for this kind of data? I was thinking 0.1 Hz would be adequate but this is kind of arbitrary value and not sure how to evaluate for this.

Temperature measurement would be a quantum leap in complexity since I assume you are thinking of temperature gradient and a matrix of sensors rather like in-shoe pressure measurement studies needed, with calibration issues and all manner of engineering nightmares. If you have a “simple” temperature sensor idea you’d share I’d love to hear about it though.

As an aside on temperature measurement do you have any opinions regarding the use of tools like “temptouch”? So far I have found them useful in mitigating effects of injury with diabetes mellitus loss of protective sensation in selected patients without evidence of significant LEAD. However I have noticed with a couple of patients who developed ulceration what I perceived as inadequate temperature sensitivity of the devise in the presence of hyperkeratosis. This I believe prevented detection of the temperature gradient threshold and created a false impression to the patient. I have stopped using the devise in this type of patient for that reason. Any takers to discuss that, I have not seen this issue discussed anywhere or mentioned on manufacturers website?

https://www.temptouch.com/faq.html
cheers

Martin


The St. James Foot Clinic
1749 Portage Ave.
Winnipeg
Manitoba
R3J 0E6
phone [204] 837 FOOT (3668)
fax [204] 774 9918
www.winnipegfootclinic.com