New wearable sensor can monitor muscle wasting risk

A study by researchers at The Ohio State University (OSU) in the United States to monitor the physical condition of NASA astronauts came to the following conclusion: A wearable device designed to detect and monitor muscle atrophy.

The new sensor, which looks like a blood pressure cuff, could benefit patients with degenerative diseases, aging, or muscle disuse. Although these cases are currently followed up with MRI scans, these tests can sometimes be time-consuming and expensive.

A simplified alternative proposal published in the journal IEEE Processes in Biomedical EngineeringIt consists of an electromagnetic sensor with two electrical coils made of conductive wires, called e-threads sewn on fabric in a zigzag pattern. One of the windings acts as a transmitter and the other as a receiver.

How was the new muscle atrophy monitor tested?

To test its effectiveness wearableThe study’s authors dressed him in 3D-printed leg molds (canonical ghosts), then stuffed them with minced meat to simulate the calf muscle of an average-sized person.

Based on Faraday’s law of induction, the researchers induced a varying current in the transmit coil to create a magnetic flux that we could “measure” in the receiving coil. New Atlas lead author of the paper is Allyane Rice, an electrical engineer at OSU. “As the circumference of the limb increases, so does the overall magnetic flux and voltage in the receiving coil”summarized.

The result was the proposed sensor accurately detects small-scale changes in the overall circumference of the tracked limbMeasuring muscle loss up to 51%. Its use makes it possible to monitor muscle wear, both in patients with degenerative diseases and in astronauts working in low-gravity environments.