Analysis of effective sit-to-stand therapy using kinematic synergies

Understanding effective sit-to-stand (STS) movement is essential for improving rehabilitation strategies and developing services for the rapidly increasing number of elderly people. This study aims at identifying effective STS therapy by analyzing the kinematic synergies of movements induced by therapists of different skill-levels. Three synergies were found to share the same temporal pattern in both joint angles and center-of-mass spaces across all therapists. Effective strategy used by a skilled therapist and strategy flaws of less-experienced therapists were revealed through comparison of spatial patterns.