Ravi Chacko CEO Chase McCaleb CFO Walker Plash CMO Perry Yin CTO George Zhou CRO

ACL Injury Background…

 100,000 -200,000 ruptured per year 1  60,000-75,000 ACL reconstructions annually 2  Costs range from $20-50k without insurance, $800 3,000 with  150x more likely to re-injure 3 1. Mayo Clinic Online 2. JD Hubbell, MD; E Schwartz, MD; http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/89442-overview 3. Dunn et al 2004

Reasons for ACL Tears…

 Planting and cutting  Straight-knee landings Causing…  Hyperextention of the knee  Excessive inward rotation

Market

 CDC estimates 7.2 million high school athletes in the U.S.

1  Approximately 4 million professional athletes.

 Affects anyone involved in:  Volleyball  Basketball  Soccer  Football  Gymnastics  And more 1. CDC: MMWR; September 29, 2006 / 55(38);1037-1040; http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5538a1.htm

Known Risk Factors



Physiological Factors

 Hormones, Sex, Leg Dominance, Joint Laxity/Recurvation 

Behavioral Factors

 Landing/Jumping  Torso position and resulting stresses on knee   Toe to heel shock absorption Side Cut  Quad and Hamstring firing patterns

Risk Factors- Zebis

Mette K. Zebis (7/09)  Found that a difference in Vastus Lateralis and Semitendinosus firing 10ms before a side cut led to a significantly increased chance for ACL rupture.

Risk Factors - LESS

Lindsay J. DiStefano (2009)  Used Landing Error Scoring System (LESS) before and after training to show that landing errors can be improved with training.

  Current prototype can capture knee flexion and displacement May Prototype will include a hip component that will capture trunk flexion

Components

 EMG  Vastus Lateralis  Semitendinosus  2 IMU 6DOF Sensors  3 Gyroscopes  3 Accelerometers  4 Pressure Sensors  Amplifier  NIDAQ & Arduinos

Force Sensor Capture

 Original Design 2 sensors  Heel and Toe  Ankle pronation and impact time  1 st Prototype 4 Sensors  1 st and 5 th metatarsal, heel and big toe  Time of impact, ankle and foot pronation

Force Sensor Analysis

 Vertical Jump Test (x2)  Toe (red) is used primarily during takeoff  1 st (cyan) and 5 th metatarsal (green) are used primarily during landing  Heel (blue) is kept off the ground

EMG Capture

 EKG electrodes placed at the VL and ST  Grounded at the abdomen  System contains a circuit for a DC offset so we can view both positive and negative values

EMG Analysis

 Purpose: to capture the difference in average activity (% of max) in the 10 ms prior to cut.

 Method:  Sync  Filter  Threshold  RMS

Motion Capture

 Inertial Measurement Units (IMU) consist of 4 perpendicular accelerometers and 4 perpendicular gyroscopes  IMUs attached to brace at the calf and thigh  Record linear acceleration and rotational velocity, each in 3 dimensions at each point

Motion Capture Analysis

Motion Capture Analysis

Side Cut

Side Cut

Future Plans

Final Prototype  Lightweight and wireless  Free movement This Semester  Stay tethered, but clean up wires to increase mobility  Expand to include multiple tests  Multiple test subjects

Development Timeline

 Interpret data collected from gyros/accelerometers  Increase mobility  Improve EMG analysis  Connect mechanical to bioelectric data  Create GUI for data collection and analysis

Future Business Plan

 Phase II: Research and Development  Distribute to athletic teams for data collection  Prove that we can actually predict risk factors  Phase III: Initial Release   Target athletic teams, gyms, and physical therapists.

Projected cost of use:  $250 initial startup fee  $50 per athlete per analysis  Phase IV: Review and Expansion  Ultimately target home users

Thank you

 Keith Yeager  Aaron Kyle        Prof. Gordana Vunjak-Novakovic Prof. Elizabeth Hillman Prof. Paul Sadja  Project Advisor Matthew Bouchard & Ick Bhumiratana Lauren Grosberg Jim Gossett  Associate Athletics Director for Sports Medicine Paige Plash  Physical Therapist, COO Encore Rehabilitation

Questions?