Reflex hammer with sensors
A system includes a first device having a handle, a head coupled to the handle, a bumper supported by a first end of the head and adapted to be used to strike a patient tendon, a force sensor coupled to the bumper and adapted to generate force data in response to force encountered by the bumper and to generate force data, a first accelerometer coupled to generate head acceleration data in response to movement of the head, and first circuitry to capture the force data and acceleration data. The system may further include second device having a housing adapted to be coupled to the patient limb, a second accelerometer supported by the housing to generate limb acceleration data, and second circuitry to capture the acceleration data.
1 . A system includes:
a deep tendon reflex hammer comprising:
a handle;
a head coupled to the handle;
a bumper supported by a first end of the head and adapted to be used to strike a patient tendon;
a pressure sensor embedded in material of the bumper and adapted to generate pressure data in response to and representative of pressure encountered by the bumper;
a first accelerometer coupled to generate head acceleration data in response to movement of the head, wherein the first accelerometer comprises a six degree of freedom accelerometer and wherein the head acceleration data and pressure data is representative of magnitude and angle of approach to strike and magnitude and angle of strike rebound with respect to the patient tendon representative of a validity of the strike; and
first circuitry to capture the pressure data and head acceleration data and coordinate the data to a synchronization pulse from which strike magnitude and angle and rebound magnitude and angle is calculatable to determine a valid tendon strike; and
a second device comprising:
a housing adapted to be coupled to a patient limb;
a second accelerometer supported by the housing to generate limb acceleration data; and
second circuitry to capture the limb acceleration data and coordinate the data to the synchronization pulse, wherein the generated and captured data enables deep tendon reflex assessment, and wherein an acceptable strike is determined based the pressure data and the head acceleration data.
2 . The system of claim 1 wherein the first and second circuitry each include a wireless transceiver to wirelessly connect the first and second circuitry.
3 . The system of claim 2 wherein the first and second circuitry are synchronized in time via the synchronization pulse to provide a time of impact on the patient tendon and a time of response for calculation of a delay of response.
4 . The system of claim 1 wherein the first device includes a first display coupled to the first circuitry.
5 . The system of claim 4 wherein the first circuitry is configured to provide a status indication via the first display representative of the validity of the strike.
6 . The system of claim 1 wherein the first circuitry is configured to generate a peak head velocity value from the first acceleration data.
7 . The system of claim 1 wherein the first circuitry includes a synchronized clock.
8 . The system of claim 1 wherein the first circuitry is configured to determine indirect or glancing strikes as a function of the head acceleration data.
9 . The system of claim 1 wherein the bumper is formed of compliant material and the pressure sensor is embedded within the compliant material of the bumper to detect an amount of pressure the bumper encounters in response during contacting a tendon of a patient.
10 . The system of claim 1 wherein the bumper is formed of compliant material to consistently transfer pressure from the bumper contacting a tendon of a patient to the pressure sensor.
11 . The system of claim 1 wherein the pressure sensor comprises multiple pressure sensors with different pressure ranges.
12 . The system of claim 1 wherein the pressure sensor comprises multiple layered pressure sensors with different pressure ranges.
13 . A deep tendon reflex hammer comprising:
a handle;
a head coupled to the handle;
a bumper supported by a first end of the head and adapted to be used to strike a patient tendon;
a pressure sensor embedded within material of the bumper and adapted to generate pressure data in response to and representative of pressure encountered by the bumper;
a first accelerometer supported within the head to generate head acceleration data in response to movement of the head, wherein the first accelerometer comprises a six degree of freedom accelerometer and wherein the head acceleration data and pressure data is representative of magnitude and angle of approach to strike and magnitude and angle of strike rebound with respect to the patient tendon representative of a validity of the strike; and
first circuitry to capture the pressure data and acceleration data with absolute time information based on a synchronization pulse to determine validity of the strike based on strike magnitude and angle and rebound magnitude and angle wherein an acceptable strike is determined based on the pressure data and the head acceleration data.
14 . The reflex hammer of claim 13 and further including a second device comprising:
a housing adapted to be coupled to a patient limb;
a second accelerometer supported by the housing to generate limb acceleration data; and
second circuitry to capture the acceleration data with absolute time information based on the synchronization pulse.
15 . The reflex hammer of claim 14 wherein the first and second circuitry each include a wireless transceiver to wirelessly connect the first and second devices.
16 . The reflex hammer of claim 15 wherein the first and second circuitry are synchronized in time to provide a time of impact on the patient tendon and a time of response for calculation of a delay of response.
17 . The reflex hammer of claim 13 and further comprising a first display coupled to the first circuitry.
18 . The reflex hammer of claim 17 wherein the first circuitry is configured to provide a status indication via the first display.