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Abstract

A novel low-cost knee exerciser concept, previously assessed under laboratory and sports-related clinical conditions, was evaluated within the context of a developing world hospital environment. The newly-designed exerciser is of simple and robust design, incorporating a shock absorber/lever mechanism, and patient testing was carried out without resorting to previously used sophisticated measurement techniques. Motion is not purely isokinetic, mainly due to gentle acceleration and deceleration at the limb extremities, and rotational speeds vary depending upon the patient knee-joint strength. We call this anisokinetic exercise, because it has the inherent safety of isokinetics and facilitates near maximum muscle contraction throughout the range of movement. Tests carried out on a cross-section of patients and pathologies produced quantitative knee-joint data, and patient progress was monitored on the basis of average rotational speed. The combination of functionality, design simplicity and robustness, renders anisokinetics ideally suited to developing world environments. Further work on the exerciser should be aimed at establishing normative knee-joint data specifically geared for developing world environments and developing motivational feedback to the patients during exercise.