Systems Engineering in The Mechanical Design of Cranial and Spinal Therapy Devices

Abstract

The cranial and spinal therapeutic equipment have experienced major improvements in their mechanical engineering design through the adoption of system engineering. These devices should solve multifaceted biomechanical, anatomical, and control problems as well as being adaptable to the different patient populations and clinical contexts. This review investigates the theoretical principles, experimental prototypes, and performance numbers apply to spinal and cranial therapeutical systems. The focus is on integration of the sensors, control algorithms and optimization of the structure. The results obtained by experimental analyses demonstrate a significant improvement of dynamic response, accuracy of user feedback, and ergonomic fit. Nevertheless, important blank spaces still exist related to long-term validation of the performance and flexibility of the devices to be used on different pathologies. The article describes new directions and proposes ways that can be taken in the future, which can better guide the development of smarter, individualized therapeutic systems.