CHAPTER 9: MUSCULAR AND SKELETAL SYSTEMS

The first part of this chapter introduces the musculoskeletal system, from the perspective of bioengineering, tackling aspects of the osseous tissue, joints and muscles, tendons, and ligaments. The second part of the chapter focuses into human motion and the discussion and analysis of new means for acquiring and processing signals concerning human balance. As opposed to traditional means, accelerometry-based devices are especially described, as a promising alternative. Given the importance of risk of falls for the elderly population, basic components and signal analysis strategies on a study case are presented, in which an accelerometry-based device was used during clinical, qualitative assessments of risk of falls according to scales of performance. Finally, results from the definition of specific indexes through signal processing strategies are shown.