A wireless sensor network system to determine biomechanics of spinal braces during daily living

A spinal brace is a hard shell corset used to treat scoliosis. The force distribution inside the brace is not well understood. This study developed a battery-powered wireless sensor network to continuously monitor forces exerted by the braces to scoliotic patients. This network consisted of one master, up to 15 slave loggers, and one base station. The time of the loggers were synchronized every 6 h to ensure that force measurements were taken at the same time. Each logger could continuously log data for at least 4 months with a sample rate of 1 sample/min. The wireless system was fully tested in the laboratory and individual logger units were tested in 6 patients. The power consumption of each logger for 4 months at 1.2 V was 454 mAh. This system will allow us to investigate the force distribution inside the brace during daily activities.