Today, the rehabilitation of patients after surgery of the lower extremity is mostly a black-box to the surgeon. The responsibility to control the loading of the operated extremity and to move in a safe manner rests with the patient. This can be overwhelming and complex for patients. Failure to adhere to the postoperative protocol leads to an increase of complications, new operations, socioeconomic costs, and can negatively affect the quality of patients’ lives. Team LingPed is closing this gap in post-surgical rehabilitation with a monitoring system for patients after orthopedic surgery of the lower extremities.

The system consists of an insole for use e.g. in postoperative shoes (orthoses) for data collection, and an app for patients as feedback mechanism to monitor and, if needed, adjust their behavior during recovery. 

The solution will also assist the surgeon in planning an individualized rehabilitation protocol. The system intends to reduce the risk of re-surgery, shorten and optimize the individual rehabilitation process, and reduce healthcare system costs.

Future application areas include pattern recognition of gait abnormalities, telemedicine, prognosis and prevention of foot deformities for children and teenagers for optimal foot development. Team LingPed consists of orthopedic trauma surgeons of the Center for Musculoskeletal Surgery from Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin and a medical student with hardware and software development expertise.