Validation of a smartphone application and wearable sensor for measurements of wrist motions

Abstract

We developed a smartphone application to measure wrist motion using the mobile device’s built-in motion sensors or connecting it via Bluetooth to a wearable sensor. Measurement of wrist motion with this method was assessed in 33 participants on two occasions and compared with those obtained with a standard goniometer. The test–retest reproducibility in healthy individuals ranged from good to excellent (intraclass correlation (ICC) 0.76–0.95) for all motions, both with and without the wearable sensor. These results improved to excellent (ICC 0.90–0.96) on the second test day, suggesting a learning effect. The day-to-day reproducibility was overall better with the wearable sensor (mean ICC 0.87) compared with the application without using sensor or goniometer (mean ICC 0.82 and 0.60, respectively). This study suggests that smartphone-based measurements of wrist range of motion are feasible and highly accurate, making it a powerful tool for outcome studies after wrist surgery.