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Wearable Devices for Physical Activity and Healthcare Monitoring

A special issue of Sensors (ISSN 1424-8220). This special issue belongs to the section "Physical Sensors".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2025 | Viewed by 2566

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
Faculty of Engineering Science, University of Bayreuth, D-95440 Bayreuth, Germany
Interests: sensors; smart equipment; wearable technology; sports engineering; data analytics product innovation; electronics design; gait analysis
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Wearable sensors have received much attention following the recent technological advances and the arrival of mobile devices. Their proven ability as an essential clinical tool provides unique insights into different physical activity and healthcare monitoring applications, both in day-to-day and controlled environments. These devices have become increasingly capable of collecting accurate data, and have demonstrated computing capabilities, including AI and machine learning. Now, more than ever, wearable technologies provide fertile ground for countless applications in public health, sedentary behaviour, remote clinical monitoring, and digital healthcare.

We welcome research studies, as well as review manuscripts, focusing on the application of wearables for objective recognition, which might include, but is not limited to, the following topics:

New keywords:

  • Physiological disorders;
  • Disability;
  • Orthopaedics;
  • Epidemiology;
  • Public health;
  • Detection;
  • Prevention;
  • Sedentary behaviour;
  • Digital healthcare;
  • Wearable motion and pressure sensors;
  • Textile sensors for human movement

Dr. Yehuda Weizman
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

  • physiological disorders
  • disability
  • orthopaedics
  • epidemiology
  • public health
  • detection
  • prevention
  • sedentary behaviour
  • digital healthcare
  • wearable motion and pressure sensors
  • textile sensors for human movement

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

29 pages, 34115 KiB  
Article
Sliding-Window CNN + Channel-Time Attention Transformer Network Trained with Inertial Measurement Units and Surface Electromyography Data for the Prediction of Muscle Activation and Motion Dynamics Leveraging IMU-Only Wearables for Home-Based Shoulder Rehabilitation
by Aoyang Bai, Hongyun Song, Yan Wu, Shurong Dong, Gang Feng and Hao Jin
Sensors 2025, 25(4), 1275; https://doi.org/10.3390/s25041275 - 19 Feb 2025
Viewed by 730
Abstract
Inertial Measurement Units (IMUs) are widely utilized in shoulder rehabilitation due to their portability and cost-effectiveness, but their reliance on spatial motion data restricts their use in comprehensive musculoskeletal analyses. To overcome this limitation, we propose SWCTNet (Sliding Window CNN + Channel-Time Attention [...] Read more.
Inertial Measurement Units (IMUs) are widely utilized in shoulder rehabilitation due to their portability and cost-effectiveness, but their reliance on spatial motion data restricts their use in comprehensive musculoskeletal analyses. To overcome this limitation, we propose SWCTNet (Sliding Window CNN + Channel-Time Attention Transformer Network), an advanced neural network specifically tailored for multichannel temporal tasks. SWCTNet integrates IMU and surface electromyography (sEMG) data through sliding window convolution and channel-time attention mechanisms, enabling the efficient extraction of temporal features. This model enables the prediction of muscle activation patterns and kinematics using exclusively IMU data. The experimental results demonstrate that the SWCTNet model achieves recognition accuracies ranging from 87.93% to 91.03% on public temporal datasets and an impressive 98% on self-collected datasets. Additionally, SWCTNet exhibits remarkable precision and stability in generative tasks: the normalized DTW distance was 0.12 for the normal group and 0.25 for the patient group when using the self-collected dataset. This study positions SWCTNet as an advanced tool for extracting musculoskeletal features from IMU data, paving the way for innovative applications in real-time monitoring and personalized rehabilitation at home. This approach demonstrates significant potential for long-term musculoskeletal function monitoring in non-clinical or home settings, advancing the capabilities of IMU-based wearable devices. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Wearable Devices for Physical Activity and Healthcare Monitoring)
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11 pages, 454 KiB  
Article
Effectiveness of a Telerehabilitation-Based Exercise Program in Patients with Chronic Neck Pain—A Randomized Clinical Trial
by Laura Guerra-Arencibia, Cristina Santana-Déniz, Daniel Pecos-Martín, Samuel Fernández-Carnero, Nerea de Miguel-Hernando, Alexander Achalandabaso-Ochoa and Daniel Rodríguez-Almagro
Sensors 2024, 24(24), 8069; https://doi.org/10.3390/s24248069 - 18 Dec 2024
Viewed by 1498
Abstract
Background: Non-specific chronic neck pain is a prevalent musculoskeletal disorder with a significant impact on individuals’ quality of life. The lack of consensus on effective therapeutic management complicates the establishment of standardized treatment protocols. Home exercise programs have yielded positive results. This study [...] Read more.
Background: Non-specific chronic neck pain is a prevalent musculoskeletal disorder with a significant impact on individuals’ quality of life. The lack of consensus on effective therapeutic management complicates the establishment of standardized treatment protocols. Home exercise programs have yielded positive results. This study aimed to assess the effectiveness of a telerehabilitation program distributed through videoconferencing for patients with non-specific chronic neck pain compared to a home-based exercise program. Methods: A randomized controlled trial was conducted involving 36 participants who were divided into two groups: the experimental group (n = 18) received manual therapy combined with telerehabilitation, while the home-based group (n = 18) received the same manual therapy treatment along with recommendations for home exercises. Key outcome measures, including neck-related disability, kynesiophobia, anxiety and depression, pain intensity, pressure pain threshold, quality of life, and adherence to self-treatment, were evaluated at baseline and post-treatment. Results: No statistically significant differences were observed between groups. However, both groups demonstrated improvements in all study variables except for the mental component of quality of life immediately post-treatment. Conclusions: After eight weeks of manual therapy and exercise, both the telerehabilitation and home-based exercise programs resulted in significant improvements in disability, pain, and kynesiophobia, indicating that telerehabilitation is as effective as home-based exercise. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Wearable Devices for Physical Activity and Healthcare Monitoring)
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