Wearable detects and monitors muscle atrophy

Muscle atrophy can happen for a variety of reasons, but is typically a side effect of degenerative disease, ageing or muscle disuse. 

MRI is often used to assess whether a patient’s muscle size and volume have deteriorated, but frequent testing can be time-consuming and costly.

A new study published in IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering suggests that an electromagnetic sensor made out of conductive e-threads could be used as an alternative to frequent MRI monitoring.

To validate their work, researchers fabricated 3D-printed limb moulds and filled them with ground beef to simulate the calf tissue of an average-sized person. Their findings showed that they were able to demonstrate the sensor could measure small-scale volume changes in overall limb size, and monitor muscle loss of up to 51 per cent. 

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“Ideally, our proposed sensor could be used by health care providers to more personally implement treatment plans for patients and to create less of a burden on the patient themselves,” said Allyanna Rice, lead author of the study and a graduate fellow in electrical and computer engineering at Ohio State.