Wearable neck assistive device strain evaluation study on surface neck muscles for head/neck movements

This article examines a dynamic wearable assistive device for individuals suffering from pain in the neck. As a part of the clinical treatment, static braces/cervical collars are suggested, however, these collars aid the person in maintaining the upright position of the head but restrict the head motion to a single configuration. To address this problem, a dynamic wearable assistive cervical collar is fabricated based on human anatomical head/neck data.

The objective of this study is to observe the strain acting on the neck surface muscles for bending and compression neck movements with and without the neck brace using a strain sensor.

To evaluate the performance of this device, experimental trials were conducted on test subjects to find out the angular tilt of the head with the device worn using the cervical range of motion (CROM) device. In addition, a neck surface muscle strain study is also conducted using strain sensors to investigate the strain produced while using the wearable assistive device. The strain on the neck surface muscle is measured using NI-9236 strain DAQ (data acquisition system). In this experimental study, a group of aged individuals with minor neck pain were recruited to study the head/neck movements.

It was found that by using the proposed assistive device, test subjects were able to mimic 65% of human head/neck movements like flexion, extension, lateral bending, and rotation, and the strain generated from the neck surface muscle was minimal.

The results show that using the designed assistive device reduced the strain on neck surface muscle, and strain obtained is within the range of 40 × 10-6 to 80 × 10-6, and may aid in recovery of the individuals suffering with neck pain.