Method for real time interactive visualization of muscle forces and joint torques in the human body

Abstract

A method and system are provided for the visual display of anatomical forces, that system having: a motion capture system; a computer, receiving data from said motion capture system; and a computational pipeline disposed on said computer; that computational pipeline being configured to calculate muscle forces and joint torques in real time and visually display those forces and torques.

1 . A system for the visual display and output of anatomical forces, the system comprising:
 A motion capture system;   A computer, receiving data from said motion capture system;   A computational pipeline disposed on said computer;   Said computational pipeline being configured to calculate joint torques, muscle forces, and joint forces in real time and visually display said forces and torques.   
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1  further comprising a runtime control unit. 
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 1  wherein said motion capture system comprises sensors selected from the group of sensors consisting of optical, magnetic, inertial, and video based sensors. 
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 1  further comprising a display device. 
     
     
         5 . The system according to  claim 1  further comprising a memory storage device. 
     
     
         6 . The system according to  claim 1  further comprising an instrumented treadmill. 
     
     
         7 . The system according to  claim 1  further comprising a ground reaction force sensor. 
     
     
         8 . The system, according to  claim 1  wherein said muscle forces and said joint torques are displayed on a representation of a human body. 
     
     
         9 . A method for the visual display of anatomical forces, said method comprising:
 Placing at least one motion capture marker on a user;   Collecting and recording real time positional data from said at least one marker;   Deriving rotational data from a plurality of said at least one marker;   Computing acceleration and velocity from said rotational data in real time;   Utilizing said acceleration and velocity to compute forward and inverse dynamics data;   Calculating muscle forces and joint torques in real time from said forward and inverse dynamics data; and   Displaying said muscle forces and joint torques.   
     
     
         10 . The method according to  claim 9  wherein said muscle forces and joint torques are displayed on a 3 dimensional muscle model. 
     
     
         11 . The method according to  claim 9  further comprising selecting a body template approximating the build of the user. 
     
     
         12 . The method according to  claim 9  further comprising displaying said muscles forces and joint torques with colored animation. 
     
     
         13 . A system for diagnosis and treatment of musculoskeletal disorders; said system comprising:
 A movement platform;   Sensors disposed within said platform;   Motion capture sensors whereby motion of a patient is captured;   A visual display whereby the location and intensity of joint torques, muscle forces, and joint forces are displayed in real time on an animated human model.   
     
     
         14 . The system according to  claim 13  wherein said visual display is provided to said patient thereby training said patient to improve movement in an affected limb. 
     
     
         15 . The system according to  claim 13  wherein said visual display is configured to provide a clinician with force and torque data necessary for diagnosis. 
     
     
         16 . The system according to  claim 15  further comprising a recoding function whereby said visual display may be replayed for study by said clinician. 
     
     
         17 . The system according to  claim 15  further comprising a database of said visual displays. 
     
     
         18 . The system according to  claim 17  further comprising a comparator whereby said database contains visual displays from a plurality of users. 
     
     
         19 . The method according to  claim 9  further comprising the use of a Jacobian matrix to facilitate said step of computing. 
     
     
         20 . The method according to  claim 9  wherein said step of calculating further comprises use of a recurrent neural network.