Inertial sensor measurement of head-cervical range of motion in transverse plane

This paper describes a method for measuring range of motion (RoM) of head in transverse plane. The measurement is performed using single inertial measurement unit MTx XSens sensor (XSens Motion Technologies, Netherlands). Specialized software for sensor data acquisition, with high visualization abilities has been developed in LaBACAS. MTx XSens sensor can provide useful, noninvasive measurement of head motion in three cardinal planes for fast evaluation of disturbances related to head/neck problems and cervical dysfunctions. The aim of this work is to investigate the feasibility of the use of inertial sensors in routine clinical assessments. The advancement of the proposed measurement over standard methods is the ability to measure unilateral RoM of the head. This technique overcomes limits of 'gold standard' measurement devices by estimating the neutral position, which is assumed to be a nontrivial. problem in standard RoM measurement. In addition, a proposal for use of sensor for visual feedback RoM assessment is presented.