Pressure monitoring for scoliosis braces using textile-based pressure sensor arrays

Scoliosis is a type of spine deformity that commonly arises during adolescence. The usage of a brace is an effective method in the conservative treatment of scoliosis. The aim of this study is to examine the pressure applied to the brace that is used in the treatment of scoliosis by integrating a textile-based capacitive pressure sensor array. By considering the sensitivity, durability, recovery/response time, and working range, appropriate sensor cells were chosen. The characterization of the selected pressure sensor cell and its coherence with other cells were examined in the experiments. It is observed that the overall average relative error for the proposed pressure estimation process is 0.18.