**3. Electro-mechanical systems providing signal data for quantifying reflex response, gait, and movement disorder**

The acquisition of quantified sensor signal data enables more pertinent clinical acuity regarding the health status with respect to reflex response, gait, and movement disorder [1–12]. With respect to the quantification of reflex response an assortment of electro-mechanical sensor systems have been proposed. These devices generally have consisted of the means for evoking the reflex through a provisional reflex hammer and quantifying the correlated reflex response [17, 18, 31–38]. By temporally synchronizing the input quantification device eliciting the reflex and output quantification sensor of the reflex response a functional reflex latency can be derived [17, 18, 39, 40].

The quantification of the input that commences the reflex has been demonstrated through instrumented provisional reflex hammers and motorized devices. These devices enable measuring of the intensity of the eliciting impact and the time stamp regarding the start of the reflex respective of the neurological pathway. The reflex response, such as deriving from the patellar tendon, can be measured through electromyograms (EMGs), strain gauges, optical motion cameras, force sensors, and wired inertial sensors in addition to the associated time stamp. The temporal

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*An Evolutionary Perspective for Network Centric Therapy through Wearable and Wireless…*

differential between the evoking reflex input time stamp and the reflex response time stamp can derive a functional latency of the reflex under consideration, such

Electro-mechanical systems have been applied for the quantified assessment of gait, which also pertains to movement disorder conditions. Representative electro-mechanical apparatus for quantifying gait consist of EMGs, optical motion cameras, force plates, foot switches, electrogoniometers, and metabolic analysis devices. These devices are generally reserved for clinical gait laboratories and imply

The acquired sensor signal data can be post-processed and applied to sophisticated techniques, such as machine learning, for distinguishing between various states of health during gait. Two particular types sensor signal are the force plate and optical motion camera [49–54]. The force plate provides kinetic signal data, and the optical motion camera provides kinematic signal data. The force plate and optical motion camera can be operated in tandem and synchronicity to derive clinically significant

These electro-mechanical systems enable quantification of human movement

features, such as reflex response, gait, and movement disorders, through the acquired sensor signal data [31–38, 41–54]. Although these electro-mechanical systems are clinically standard, they are generally constrained to a clinical laboratory. Furthermore, the majority of these devices both require specialized resources for their experimental operation, and they are predominantly not

By contrast, the functionally wearable with wireless inertial sensor system considerably alleviates the constraints of specialized resources through simplified means of activating the inertial sensor signal recording. These devices constitute portable systems, and they are functionally wearable [1–12]. The origins of the advent of Network Centric Therapy commence with the research, development, testing, and evaluation for quantifying reflex response and latency, which subsequently lead to the extrapolation to the domains of wearable and wireless inertial

**4. Evolutionary pathway for Network Centric Therapy with respect to** 

The global evolutionary pathway for Network Centric Therapy derives from the Ph.D. Dissertation research conducted by Dr. LeMoyne, which lead to the progressive development of a device known as the Wireless Quantified Reflex Device through the incremental develop of four generations. The preliminary success involved the quantification of reflex response through locally wireless accelerometers. In order to measure the response of the patellar tendon reflex, the wireless accelerometers were mounted proximal to the lateral malleolus, which signified

The original wireless accelerometers were provided through internal UCLA research, and they were referred to as MedNodes. The MedNodes required specialized operation, as they were the scope of graduate-level research at UCLA. These wireless accelerometer nodes that were noted as conveniently wearable were applied to the first and second generations of the Wireless Quantified Reflex Device, and the quantification of the patellar tendon reflex was measured in an accurate and reliable manner. The collected signal data of the wireless accelerometer was transmitted to a locally situated computer for post-processing [55, 56]. Central to all four generations of the Wireless Quantified Reflex Device was the integration of

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.95550*

portable [1–4, 6–12, 47, 48].

as the latency of the patellar tendon reflex [17, 18, 31–44].

supervision from expert clinical resources [11, 12, 45–48].

sensors for gait and movement disorder quantification.

**quantification of reflex response and latency**

their wearable capability [17, 18, 40].

information about gait, such as ankle torque derived during stance [48].

#### *An Evolutionary Perspective for Network Centric Therapy through Wearable and Wireless… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.95550*

differential between the evoking reflex input time stamp and the reflex response time stamp can derive a functional latency of the reflex under consideration, such as the latency of the patellar tendon reflex [17, 18, 31–44].

Electro-mechanical systems have been applied for the quantified assessment of gait, which also pertains to movement disorder conditions. Representative electro-mechanical apparatus for quantifying gait consist of EMGs, optical motion cameras, force plates, foot switches, electrogoniometers, and metabolic analysis devices. These devices are generally reserved for clinical gait laboratories and imply supervision from expert clinical resources [11, 12, 45–48].

The acquired sensor signal data can be post-processed and applied to sophisticated techniques, such as machine learning, for distinguishing between various states of health during gait. Two particular types sensor signal are the force plate and optical motion camera [49–54]. The force plate provides kinetic signal data, and the optical motion camera provides kinematic signal data. The force plate and optical motion camera can be operated in tandem and synchronicity to derive clinically significant information about gait, such as ankle torque derived during stance [48].

These electro-mechanical systems enable quantification of human movement features, such as reflex response, gait, and movement disorders, through the acquired sensor signal data [31–38, 41–54]. Although these electro-mechanical systems are clinically standard, they are generally constrained to a clinical laboratory. Furthermore, the majority of these devices both require specialized resources for their experimental operation, and they are predominantly not portable [1–4, 6–12, 47, 48].

By contrast, the functionally wearable with wireless inertial sensor system considerably alleviates the constraints of specialized resources through simplified means of activating the inertial sensor signal recording. These devices constitute portable systems, and they are functionally wearable [1–12]. The origins of the advent of Network Centric Therapy commence with the research, development, testing, and evaluation for quantifying reflex response and latency, which subsequently lead to the extrapolation to the domains of wearable and wireless inertial sensors for gait and movement disorder quantification.
