Design and Validation of a Heart Rate and Speed Monitoring Device With Intelligently Controlled Assistive Rehabilitation Elliptical

Abstract

Cardiovascular assessment and fitness training are often overlooked in physical rehabilitation. Many current rehabilitation exercise devices do not allow for the recording and exportation of variables related to cardiovascular fitness. Therefore, the purpose of this work was to design, prototype, and validate a data logger that measures, records, and exports time, heart rate (HR), and speed data with the commercially available rehabilitation device called the Intelligently Controlled Assistive Rehabilitation Elliptical (ICARE). Validation involved using the data logger device in parallel with devices currently used in research environments for measuring HR (TrueOne 2400 metabolic cart with polar HR monitoring chest strap) and speed (ICARE's console). Ten healthy individuals without known disability impacting walking or ability to use the ICARE, exercised on the ICARE while HR and ICARE speed were measured. It was found that the data logger can be used to accurately measure, record, and export HR (linear regression: P < 0.001; R2 = 0.892) and speed (linear regression: P < 0.001; R2 = 0.997) data when used with the ICARE.