WO2011110553A1 - Device for computer-assisted processing of bending information relating to a human or animal body, in particular to a back - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to a device for computer-assisted processing of bending information relating to a human or animal body, in particular to a back. The device comprises a data recorder (DA) for detecting bending information and/or for reading out detected bending information from a memory, wherein the detected bending information constitutes measurement data (f_i (t)) of a bending sensor (BS) and represents the bending of the body in a measurement time period. The invention also proposes an evaluation device (A) for evaluating the measurement data (f_i (t)), which device is configured in such a way that it determines, from the measurement data (fx(t)), the bending angles (f_i (t)) and bending velocities (V_i (t)) occurring in at least part of the measurement time period in one or more body areas (1, 2,..., n) and from these calculates for a respective body area (1, 2,..., n) movement information, which includes the bending range (WB) of bending angles (α_i (t)) occurring in at least part of the measurement time period and the velocity range (GB) of bending velocities (V_i (t)) occurring in at least part of the measurement time period. The device according to the invention also has a user interface (UI), which is configured in such a way that it at least partially outputs the movement information.

Description

description

Device for the computer-aided processing of bending information of a human or animal body, in particular a back

The invention relates to a device for computer-aided processing of bending information of a human or animal body, in particular a back. The concept of the body can also comprise only a body part of a Men ^¬ rule or an animal.

Various devices and methods are known from the prior art, with which the state of the back or the spine can be detected. For example, the back function may be assessed by a treadmill analysis, in which a running patient is filmed and the film is subsequently evaluated by a physician. ^¬ return connections on the back function further give EMG measurements (EMG = electromyography) with which the muscle tension to Rue ^¬ CKEN can be measured. However, the measurement results determined from such methods or the parameters derived therefrom either correlate poorly with the back function or are very complicated to handle.

Furthermore, methods for fiber optic measurement of the spinal column are known from the prior art. In the document WO 2007/110289 Al, the curvature of the spine is a fiber optic Bie ^¬ gesensor which is attached to the spine of a patient is detected. The bending sensor is glued to the skin of the patient by means of an adhesive tape along the spinal column. It is subdivided longitudinally into several measuring segments which cover one or more vertebrae or several vertebrae of the spinal column. Each measuring segment measures corresponding bending angles of the segment, whereby the bending angles are detected by light-conducting fibers with a special surface treatment. Depending on the bending radius loses at a predetermined length position or wins the fiber to transmission, so that from this the bending in different back sections can be measured. The apparatus of this publication allows an analysis of the spine as to whether the measured values of the bending sensor to describe a good or a bad location and / or Be ^¬ movement of the spinal column and thus a correct but errors ^¬ exemplary posture of the patient. A further analysis of the state of health of the spine does not take place.

In the document WO 2009/010519 Al a special Substituted ^¬ staltung an optical fiber sensor is described in the form of a sensor strip, which can be used as a back sensor for measuring a patient's spine.

The document WO 2008/052682 A1 describes a method for measuring the torsion of a patient's body, which uses fiber-optic bending sensors in the measurement. The known fiber optic methods for measuring a human or animal body have the disadvantage that the measurement data are not processed in such a way that an information about the condition of the measured body which can be used for diagnostic purposes and is easy to understand is generated.

The object of the invention is therefore to provide a device for computer-assisted processing of bending information of a body and in particular of a back, which generates for a user, and in particular the doctor quickly sensing ^¬ bare and meaningful information about the condition of the body.

This object is achieved by the independent patent claims. Further developments of the invention are defined in the dependent claims. The inventive device for computer-aided processing of bending information of a human or animal body comprises a data recording device for detecting bending information and / or for reading recorded bending information from a memory, wherein the detected bending information measurement data of a bending sensor device represent and bends of the body in a measurement period. The data recording device can thus comprise the bending sensor device itself or be designed such that it only serves to read out measured data from a memory, wherein the measurement data were previously detected by means of a bending sensor device.

The inventive device further comprises a Auswer ^¬ teeinrichtung for evaluating the measurement data, which is configured such that it in at least determined in operation from the measurement data corresponding to a portion of the measurement period in one or more body portions, and more particularly back portions bending angle and bending speeds occurring and from a respective back section calculates a movement information which contains the bending range of bending angles occurring in at least part of the measurement period and the speed range of bending speeds occurring in at least part of the measurement period. Possibly. may represent at least the ge ^¬ entire measurement period of a portion of the measurement period.

The term of the bending angle in the sense of the invention is to be understood broadly and can generally represent a measure of the size of the bending of the body, ie the bending angle need not necessarily be indicated as an angle value. For the purposes of the invention, bending speed is to be understood as meaning the degree of change in the bending angle, it being possible for this size to be determined, for example, by deriving the temporally successive bending angles. The motion information detected by the Auswerteein ^¬ direction may include the bending area and speed range both explicitly and implicitly. That is, the motion information can optionally also be designed such that the bending ^¬ range or speed range can be seen from this information, although it is not explicitly indicated in the information.

The inventive device further comprises a Benut ^¬ cut spot, which is designed such that it at least partially outputs the motion information that has been previously determined by the evaluation device, for a user, in particular on a suitable display device visualized.

The invention is based on the finding that on simp ^¬ che, the mobility and thus the function of the pERSonal pers or of the back or spine through the span of the Körperverbiegungen occurring and the range of velocities of these Körperverbiegungen can be represented. Through the presentation of this movement information, a user and in particular a doctor is simply and intuitively taught how flexible the body of a patient is. Based on this information, the physician can easily make a diagnosis and track the effectiveness of a treatment. Depending on which bending sensor means is used according to the invention different bending angle and thus bending of the body and in particular the Rü ^¬ ckens can be detected. In a preferred embodiment the bending angle are detected by the bending sensor means, which are caused by a flexion and extension movement of the Rü ^¬ ckens and by a torsional movement.

In a preferred embodiment, the measured data processed in the device according to the invention come from a fiber-optic bending sensor device. Optionally, however, other types of flexion sensor devices can be used which measure the deformation of the body in other ways, such as strain gauges or position sensors. In a preferred embodiment, the bending sensor device comprises one or more bending sensor strips which can be positioned on the body, in particular on or adjacent to the spinal column, and which detect the measurement data for the respective body sections when they are positioned on the body. The bending sensor strips are preferably adhered to the body. In a particularly preferred variant, the bending sensor strip or strips comprise one or more optical fibers with bend-sensitive sections, one or more light sources at one end of the fiber or fibers for feeding light into the fiber or fibers and at the other end of the fiber or fibers several Detektion- DEVICES are provided for the detection of through the fiber or fibers of transmitted light, wherein the Intensi ^¬ tätswerte of the transmitted light depend through the fiber or fibers of the bending of the bending-sensitive portions and represent the measured values of the bending sensor device. In this case, the evaluation device uses the intensity values to determine the bending angles occurring in the measurement period and, therefrom, the bending speeds.

In a further, particularly preferred embodiment, the evaluation device is designed such that drove the loading from the ermittel for a respective body portion ^¬ th bend angle and / or bending speeds a proportion of the largest and / or smallest values of the bend angle and / or bending speeds discards in particular a ^¬ percent set of the largest and / or smallest values of all the values of the bending angle and / or bending speeds, preferably a percentage of 10% or less, more preferably a percentage of 5%. The proportion of rejected bending angles and / or bending speeds may optionally be chosen differently for each body section. The variant just described realized in the inventive device, the bending portion and the VELOCITY ^¬ keitsbereich is determined from the bending angles and bending speeds, which no longer contain the discarded values. With the embodiment just described, it is possible to discard those measured values which result from unusual bending of the body, which normally does not belong to the movement sequence of a person. As a result, such bending information is filtered out, which falsify the measurement result.

In a further embodiment of the device according to the invention the evaluation device is designed such that it contains as at least determines a part of the motion information for a respective body portion of a two-dimensional histogram, which corresponds the frequency distribution of the bending speeds occurring for the respective bending angle for the measurement period occurring defects ^¬ Tenden bending angle holds. Such a histogram includes as information also the bending range and the bending speed range.

In a further embodiment of the device according to the invention, the user interface is designed such that it can visualize the one or two-dimensional histograms on a display device. The visualization of a two-dimensional histogram is preferably the ^¬ art configured such that for the histogram is a graph with two mutually perpendicular axes on a Anzei- is reproduced organization used wherein an axis of the passing on ^¬ bending angle and the other axis represents the bending speeds occurring. Here, in the slide ^¬ program the frequencies occurring at respective bending angles bending speeds are encoded, for example, based on a solid color coding, different Far ^¬ ben different frequencies indicate. In this way, a simple and intuitive representation of occurring Bie ^¬ gewinkel and bending speeds and thus the Biegebe ^¬ Empire and the speed range is reached.

In a further embodiment, the motion information determined by the evaluation device can also be the entropy of a respective two-dimensional histogram and / or comprise one or more moments of the respective two-dimensional histogram, in particular the variance and / or standard deviation and / or the skewness of the respective two-dimensional histogram

Histogram. The user interface is designed in such a way that it can at least partially also output these variables.

In a further embodiment of the device according to the invention the evaluation device is designed such that it determines in operation for a respective body portion of the maximum value and minimum value of the bending angle and the Biegege ^¬ speeds and therefrom, ie in particular by forming the difference between the maximum value and minimum value, the bending area and determines the speed range. Maximum value and minimum value can be directly determined from the determined by the evaluation bending angles and bending speeds in at least a portion of the measurement period be ^¬ be true. If a proportion of the greatest and / or smallest values of the bending angles and / or bending speeds has been rejected, the maximum value and minimum value relate to bending angles and / or bending speeds without the rejected values. Provided that the apparatus determined as the motion information of a two-dimensional histogram for the respective body portion, there is also the possibility that the ma- ximalwert and minimum values from the respective zweidimensiona ^¬ len histogram are determined.

In a particularly preferred embodiment of the device according to the invention, the user interface is configured such that it visualizes on a display device for one or more body sections the bending area and the speed area via a bar whose width and height represent the size of the bending area and the speed area, in particular represents the width of the beam, the size of the bending area and in particular the height of the bar ^¬ sondere the size of the speed ^¬ range. As a result, a representation of the condition or the mobility that can be quickly grasped by a physician is displayed. of the body. While several ^¬ re beams for different body areas on the Anzeigeein ^¬ direction above one another or next to one another are preferably arranged, preferably with a higher arranged bar represents one arranged in the direction of the spine above the body portion in the form of a back portion. This creates a simple and intuitive visual linkage of the bars with the corresponding body sections. Preferably also the maximum value and minimum value of the bending area and / or the speed range will give wiederge ^¬ by the position of the beam with respect to at least one reference line. The movement information may contain as further information eg a measure of the quality of the movement with regard to whether the movement is being performed by a healthy or sick body. The quality of the movement can be coded, for example, by the color of the bars.

The movement information determined with the device according to the invention may contain further information in addition to the bending range and the speed range. In particular, the movement information may include information about a normal range of the bending portion and the speed ^¬ area and / or the information, how large the deviation of the bending area and the speed range of a normal range, wherein this standard range and in particular an average mobility of a Kör ^¬ pers refers. This additional information may at least partially output through the user interface ^¬ to.

In a particularly preferred embodiment, the standard range is visualized by additional bars on the display device, which are superimposed, for example, with the already existing bar. In addition or as an alternative, the deviation from the normal range can be visualized on the display device via color coding of the bars. The data recording device, the evaluation device and the user interface of the device according to the invention can be implemented in a suitable manner by hardware, software or a combination of hardware and software. An exemplary implementation is achieved on a microprocessor with connected memory module and display device, said program code is stored to perform the functionali ^¬ capacities of the data recording device or the evaluation device or the user interface in the storage module, and read by the microprocessor from there to the processing. In addition, the bending information detected via the bending sensor device can be stored in the memory module in an organized manner for processing by the microprocessor. In a preferred variant, the user interface comprises a display device which visually displays the results after processing by the data recording device and evaluation device.

In addition to the device according to the invention described above, the invention further comprises a method for computer-aided processing of bending information of a back with the aid of this device. In this case, bending information is detected by means of a data recording device and / or detected bending information is read from a memory, wherein the detected bending information represents measurement data of a bending sensor device and represents bends of the body in a measuring period. In a next step, the measurement data are evaluated by an evaluation device such that the bending angle and bending speeds occurring in at least a portion of the measurement period in one or more Körperabschnit ^¬ th are determined from the measurement data and therefrom for a respective Rückenab ^¬ cut a motion information is calculated, which contains the bending range of bending angles occur in at least a portion of the measurement period and the speed range of occurring in at least a portion of the measurement period bending ^¬ speeds. Finally, this movement Information output at least partially via a user interface ^¬ .

Embodiments of the invention are described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Show it:

Fig. 1 is a schematic representation of one embodiment of the inventive

Device performed processing steps;

FIGS. 2 and 3 show a first example of a visualization of a movement information for a healthy or a sick subject according to the invention;

4 and FIG. 5 show a second example of a visualization according to the invention of a movement information for a healthy or a sick test subject.

The device described below with reference to FIG. 1, which is explained using the example of the measurement of a human back, comprises a data acquisition device DA which contains a fiber-optic bending measurement system comprising one or more bending sensors in the form of bending sensor strips BS. Bend sensor strips for measuring bending information are known per se from the prior art. In particular, in the bending measuring system of the document WO

2009/010519 AI disclosed bending sensor strips used ^¬ the. In this case, the bending sensor strip forms a sensor band with a plurality of optical fibers, wherein the respective fibers in different areas along the length of the

Bend sensor strip include bending-sensitive sections. The ^¬ se sections are designated in Fig. 1 by the reference numeral 1, 2, n. The bending sensor strip is detected during the measurement adhered to the back of a patient in the direction along the spinal column, so that each bending-sensitive section also corresponds with a corresponding back section at different heights, starting from the lumbar vertebra of the spinal column. The bending-sensitive portions are formed, for example, by a plurality of notches in the respective optical fibers.

During operation of the bending measuring system, light is transmitted into the optical fibers via an optical transmitter at one end of the bending sensor strip, which is received via an optical receiver at the other end of the bending sensor strip. In a bending of the bending sensor strip in the different bending-sensitive portions while the transmission of the corresponding optical fibers is changed so that the amount or intensity of the respective Fa ^¬ fibers transmitted and received by the optical receiver light a measure of the bending of the bending sensor strip in the corresponding bending-sensitive section represents. In the embodiment described here, a respective one

Bend sensor strips sensitive to bending of the spine due to flexion or extension movements of the patient as well as torsional movements (ie, torsion of the upper body). These movements lead to a bending of bending-sensitive sections in the bending sensor strip by corresponding bending angles, which can be determined by the device described below ^¬ . A bending angle can be specified in any unit of measure. In particular, it is not necessary that the bending angle also represents an actual angle. Rather, it is sufficient that is the bending angle is a measure wiederge give ^¬ which rep ^¬ räsentiert the size of the deflection of the respective fibers and thus of the corresponding back portion. In the same way, the bending speeds determined by the device, which are explained in more detail below, do not have to correspond to actual speeds. Rather, what matters is that a bending Speed is a measure of the size of the temporal changes ^¬ tion of the corresponding bending angle represents.

In the context of the data acquisition with the device DA, in a preferred embodiment, several of the strips BS are attached to the back of a patient, for example starting from the spinal column to the left and right in the region of the Len ^¬ denwirbelsäule up to higher segments. In the context of the data ^¬ consumption [T 0] are then for a measurement period for a plurality of times t determined within the measuring period ent ^¬ speaking measurement data of the bending sensor strip for the different bending-sensitive regions and thus for the different backrest portions. The measurement data for the individual back portions i = 1, 2, n and the different points in time t are here in Fig. 1 f ± (t) be ^¬ distinguished. Thus, in the context of the data acquisition, bending information is measured ^spatially and temporally resolved. In the fiber-optic bending measuring system used according to FIG. 1, these measured data represent corresponding intensity values of the transmitted light in the respective fibers of the bending sensor strips.

The data acquisition can be done in different ways. Ins ^¬ particular, the patient may, on whose back the bending sensor strips BS are mounted in a predetermined movement sequence (choreography) in the presence of a physician or perform predetermined movements of medical personnel, said caused thereby bending the spine detected by the bending sensor strip be and an evaluation device A are supplied. There is also the Mög ^¬ friendliness that a patient with attached on its back bending sensor strip ^¬ brought unattended over a longer measurement period, for example one day pursues his usual activities, wherein the bending sensor strips are connected to a tienten from patent entrained memory means which the stores sensed within the period of measurement data kon ^¬ continuously. Via an appropriate interface then the stored measurement data can be read out and fed to the evaluation unit A.

After data collection, while measured data fi (t), which are digitized in the rule are further processed by the off ^¬ A device values. In the context of a conversion U by means of a calibration function C ±, which is already known for each bend-sensitive section of the corresponding flex sensor strip, bending angles ± (t) corresponding to the original measurement data f ± (t) are determined. In ^¬ play, the calibration function C ± or its parameters may be determined from calibration measurements for each individual bending-sensitive portion. In addition, t by the evaluation device for each measuring point in time and for each sensitive to bending portion bending speeds v (t) = a ± (t) over the time derivation of the bend angle ermit ^¬ telt. Since the bending angle digitized usually present to dis ^¬ kreten time points, the derivative is approximated by the differential quotient or other suitable numerical procedural ren.

In the evaluation unit A, the calculated bending angles ± (t) and bending speeds vi (t) are subjected to a cut-off operation in an optional processing step CO. This operation serves to bend angle or Biegegeschwin ^¬ speeds which indicate short-term abnormal movements of the patient, to remove from the acquired measurement data. For this purpose, both ± determined from all bend angles (t) as well as from all determined bending speeds vi (t) of the respective land portions are discarded and the highest nied ^¬ rigsten values. The proportion of discarded values can be determined arbitrarily. In a preferred embodiment, the highest and lowest 5% of the values of ± (t) and vi (t) are discarded. The remaining values are indicated in Fig. 2 with ai (t) and v ± (t).

After the CO cut-off operation, the bending angles α ± (t) and bending speeds v ± (t) can be based on two alternatives. terprocessed, wherein the one alternative in Fig. 1 with AI and the other alternative is indicated by A2. Both alternatives have that the result of processing is common motion information containing the bending or angular range of bending angles and occurring in the respective back portion of the speed range of occurring in the respective back portion Biegegeschwindigkei ^¬ th after the cut-off operation. This motion information is well suited for an intuitive and easily detectable by a doctor showing the state of the vertebral column of the patient ^¬. Based on such a representation, the physician can be assisted in making his diagnosis. According to the alternative AI, two-dimensional histograms are generated from the bending angles α ± (t) and bending speeds v ± (t) for each of the back regions i (i = 1, n), wherein one of the two-dimensional histograms in FIG is indicated. The histogram HI can be represented as a matrix whose basis consists of all assumed bending angles α ± (t) (first dimension) and all assumed bending velocities v ± (t) (second dimension) at corresponding measurement times te [0, T]. The entries of the matrix are then the frequency of occurrence of a certain bending speed at a certain

Bending angle. From such a histogram of the angle range of the bending angle obtained in a simple manner by the bending angles occur in the histogram, and the speed of the bending speeds ^¬ area by the occurring in the histogram bending speeds. The histogram HI is supplied in accordance with the alternative AI visualization based on a corresponding user interface UI, wel ^¬ che the data of the histogram suitably processed in order to reproduce graphically on a display device, in particular a display.

As part of the visualization via the user interface UI, the histogram can be displayed as a diagram, where in the occurred Bie ^¬ gewinkel and along the ordinate of the diagram, the aufgetre ^¬ requested bending speeds are plotted along the abscissa of the diagram. The corresponding frequencies of occurrence of bending speeds for each encountered bending angle then in the diagram coded, wherein the coding may be achieved, for example by a color ^¬ coding which reproduces via different colors, how great is the frequency which occurred bending speeds for different bending angles. In this way, a user, in particular a doctor, can easily recognize in which interval the bending speeds or the bending angles are moving. This gives the doctor a statement about the mobility of the patient for different back or spine sections, wherein the mobility is higher, the greater the range of the assumed bending angle and the assumed bending speeds.

In the alternative A2 according to FIG. 1, a maximum value and minimum value of the values of bending angles and bending speeds recorded for each back section are determined directly from the determined bending angles ai (t) and bending speeds v ± (t) subjected to the cut-off operation , The minimum value of the bending angle is indicated in FIG. 1 for the back section i as _m i _n , i, whereas the maximum value of the bending angle for the back section i is indicated as _max , i. Analogously to the minimum value of the bending speeds for the back portion is denoted by i v _m i i _ni and Maxi ^¬ malwert the bending speed of the back section with i v i _Maxi. With these values, the difference between the maximum value and the minimum value finally determines the bending or angular range WB of the assumed bending angle, which corresponds to the value δ 1. Likewise, the range of the ^¬ taken bending speeds is determined, which corresponds to the value δνι.

The parameters _max , i, oimin, i _/ v _max , i, v _m i _ni i, δθίι and δνι obtained according to the alternative A2 are then in turn 1 b

supplied to a visualization based on the user interface UI. In a preferred embodiment, the visualization is carried out by appropriate beams, such as white ^¬ ter will be explained below referring to Fig. 2 to Fig. 5. The alternatives AI and A2 can also be suitably combined. In particular, it is also possible for the histogram formation according to the alternative AI to be carried out first and then the corresponding parameters of the alternative A2 to be derived from these histograms, these parameters resulting in a simple manner from the corresponding occurrence frequencies in the histograms.

5 below, preferred embodiments of a visualization of the angular range or determined in the apparatus of Fig. 1 ^¬ speed range will be described with reference to FIG. 2 to FIG.. It is thereby assumed that a data recording, on a patient's back left and right of the spine sorstreifen, a corresponding Biegesen- at the BS is applied, which includes seven measuring zones (ie, bending-sensitive sections) for detecting successive fol ^¬ constricting land portions. The visualization shown in FIG. 2, which is wiederge ^¬ give in this form on a corresponding display device of the user interface UI is provided to illustrate with a plurality of reference marks, which reference characters (except for the numbers 1 to 7) in the actual visualization not included. The visualization of FIG. 2 includes a left region Rl and a right region R2, wherein the left region corresponds to the measured values of the bending sensor strip on the left side of the spine and the right region R2 of the measured values of the Bie ^¬ gesensorstreifens on the right side of the spine speaks. A vertical line L is provided in the left-hand area and a vertical line L 'is provided in the right-hand area, which corresponds in each case to the 0 ° line of the bending angle. In the left-hand area R1, negative bending angles are on the right the line L and positive bending angle to the left of the line L. The ^¬ opposite are in the right area R2 positive bending angle to the right of the line L 'and negative bending angle to the left of the line L'. The angle scale is indicated by vertical, color different zones, which are separated in Fig. 2 by parallel dashed lines and the lines L and L 'from each other. The width of a zone ent ^¬ speaks a bending angle range of 10 °. The individual, indicated in the vertical direction measuring zones 1, 2, 7 correlate with back portions, wherein the measurement zone 1 is the lumbar region and the wide ^¬ ren measuring zones 2 to 7 in the vertical direction of the spine extending upwardly. In each of the measuring zones a corresponding beam is shown both for the left region R as well as for the right region R2, which represents the angular range or Geschwindigkeitsbe determined for the back portion ^¬ rich. The individual bars for the measuring zones 1 to 7 on the left of the spinal column are labeled B1, B2,..., B7, whereas the individual bars of the measuring zones 1 to 7 on the right of the spine are labeled Bl ', B2', B7 ' are. For emphasis, the bars Bl to B7 have a different color (eg red) than the bars Bl 'to B7' (eg green). The vertical edges of bars represent in the representation of FIG. 2 where the minimum value and maximum value of which occurred in the corresponding back portion bending angle, so that the width of each bar represents the angle ^¬ range of occurred bending angle. In contrast, the heights of the individual beams represent the bending speeds which have occurred in the respective back section, ie the higher a bar is, the greater the span of the bending speeds that has occurred. For clarification, the angle range for the bar Bl 'in FIG. 2 is indicated by WB and the speed range for the bar B3' is indicated by the reference sign GB.

2, for each of the regions R1 and R2 corresponding structure lines SL and SL 'are shown. -

drawn, which the state of the spine wiederge ben ^¬ ben, if the patent is. The structure lines arise from the fact that the bending angle contained in the respective bars for the standing condition of the patient are connected to each other. The illustration of Fig. 2 can be easily and intuitively taken of how the mobility of the spinal column of the patient, the mobility is higher, the wider and higher a corresponding bar is. In addition, it can also be seen whether the mobility of the spine is symmetrical for the left and right side of the upper body, because the type of representation allows a quick detection of asymmetries, ie you can quickly detect when the location of a bar of a measurement zone in the left area is very different from the corresponding location of the bar in the right area.

In the illustration of FIG. 2, a healthy patient without back problems is reproduced. This results from the fact that the individual bars represent a relatively large area. In contrast, Fig. 3, which illustrates the same capitalization as visualization ^¬ Fig. 2, the measurement data of a diseased subjects with spinal problems. It will be used to designate the same visualized components, the same reference numerals. It can clearly be seen in FIG. 3 that the mobility of the spinal column of the ill subject is considerably lower in comparison to the healthy subject, because a large number of the bars in FIG. 3, in particular the bars relating to the lower area of the spinal column, have a substantial effect smaller area than the entspre ^¬ sponding bars in Fig. 2.

FIGS. 4 and 5 show a visualization slightly modified relative to FIGS. 2 and 3, wherein visualized components which correspond to the components of FIGS. 2 and 3 are provided with the same reference numerals. The visualization of Fig. 4 is again based on the representation of the mobility of the spine over corresponding bars Bl to B7 for the left area Rl of the spine and the bars Bl 'to Β7 'for the right area R2 of the spine. In contrast to FIG. 2 or FIG. 3, in addition to these bars, corresponding reference bars RB are also reproduced which, for reasons of clarity, are only partially designated in FIG. 4 with the reference symbol RB. In FIG. 4, the single ^¬ NEN reference beams are all within the other beams Bl to B7 or Bl 'to B7'. Each of the reference bars represents a standard range that reflects the average mobility of a healthy spine for the corresponding measurement zone. By way of example, the standard angle range is indicated by the width RWB of the bar for the reference bar of the measuring zone 1 in the left-hand area Rl. Likewise, by way of example, for the bar in the measuring zone 1 in the right-hand region R2, the reference speed range is indicated by the height RGB of the bar.

The individual reference bars are placed symmetrically over the bars B1 to B7 or Bl 'to B7' measured for the patient. If the area of the reference beam is similar to the area of the measured bar or larger, it can be assumed that the subject is healthy or has above-normal mobility. Furthermore, the absolute width, the absolute height, the position of the bars and the symmetry of the bars in the right and left areas provide information on the state of health of the back. If the corresponding mobility is within the norm, this can be indicated by a color coding of the bar (eg green). If the mobility is much higher than the norm, this can also be indicated by a corresponding color coding of the beam (eg blue). Fig. 4 shows a healthy subjects with athletic, ie highly mobile, spine. The bars Bl to B5 and Bl 'to B4' in this case have the same color (eg blue) and give a mobility above the normal range, because their area is significantly larger than the surface of the corre sponding ^¬ reference bar. If the mobility significantly exceeds the normal range, these bars can possibly be colored differently and thereby on indicate a pathological hypermobility. In contrast, the bars B6 and B7 and B5 ', B6' and B7 'are in the normal range, ie they differ only slightly in their area from the corresponding reference bars. This is indicated by a different coloring (eg green) of the bars.

FIG. 5 shows the same type of visualization as FIG. 4, wherein now the measurement data of a sick subject with spinal column problems is reproduced. It should be noted that FIG. 5 is an enlarged view, which is evident in particular from the fact that the indicated by the ge ^¬ dashed lines 10 ° sections in Fig. 5 are wider than in Fig. 4. It can be seen from Fig 5, it is clear that almost all of the bars B1 to B7 and B1 'to B7' have a smaller area than the corresponding reference bars RB. A very strong deviation of the surface of the measured bar is reproduced by a corresponding color coding of the bar. 5, such diseased back sections are indicated by the bars B1, B2, B4, B5, B1 ', Β2', B3 ', Β4', B5 'and B7', all of which are colored with the same color (eg red). , In contrast, a marginal Move ^¬ friendliness of a back portion, which just meets the standard, as indicated by a different color. In Fig. 5 there is such borderline mobility for bar B3, which is reproduced to emphasize this borderline mobility in a different color (eg, orange) than the other bars. Analogous to FIG. 4, also in FIG. 5, such bars, which represent a mobility corresponding to the standard, are reproduced with a specific color. Similarly, bar, representing an athletic movement, represented by ei ^¬ ner corresponding to different color. In FIG. 5, the bars B6, B7 and B6 'correspond to a standard mobility and are reproduced with a corresponding color code (eg green). In the illustration of Fig. 5, a doctor recognizes very quickly how the mobility of the spine in the different measured back sections is. In addition, the superposition of the bars with the reference bars also shows how strong the deviation of the mobility from the standard mobility is.

The embodiments of the device according to the invention described above have a number of advantages. In particular, a simple and intuitive verständli ^¬ che visualization of functional health status of a patient's back is achieved based on the determined bending ^¬ angles and bending speeds. The doctor can thus the condition of the spine diagnostizie ^¬ ren. For example, the effectiveness of back pain treatment ^¬ be made visible very quickly. In contrast to known methods, a quantitative and therefore meaningful representation of the condition of the back of a patient he ^¬ reaches, which is also still easy and intuitive to detect.

Claims

claims 1. A device for computer-aided processing of bending information of a human or animal body, in particular a back, comprising:  a data acquisition device (DA) for acquiring bending information and / or for reading detected bending information from a memory, the detected bending information representing measurement data (fi (t)) of a bending sensor device (BS) and representing bends of the body in a measurement period; an evaluation device (A) for evaluating the measurement data (fi (t)), which is designed such that it from the measurement data (fi (t)) which (in at least a part of the measuring ^¬ period in one or more body portions 1, 2 , n) occurring bending angle (± (t)) and Biegegeschwin ^¬ digkeiten (vi (t)) is determined and calculates therefrom for a respective body portion ^¬ (1, 2, n) motion information, which the bending range (WB) of in at least bending angles occurring during a part of the measuring period (± (t)) and the speed range (GB) from occurring in at least a portion of the measurement period Biegege ^¬ speeds (vi (t)) includes; a user interface (UI), which is ^{ausgestal ¬} tet that it outputs the motion information at least partially ^¬ . 2. Device according to claim 1, wherein the bending sensor device (BS) comprises one or more on the body, in particular on the back on or adjacent to the spine, positio ^¬ nierbare Biegesensorstreifen (BS), which in Positi ^¬ onierung on the body the Acquire measurement data (fi (t)) for the respective body sections (1, 2, n). 3. Device according to claim 2, wherein the or Biegesen- sorstreifen (BS) comprise one or more optical fibers having bend ^¬ sensitive sections, wherein at one end of the fiber or fibers of the one or more light sources to switch one or more detection devices are provided for detecting the intensity of the light transmitted through the fiber or fibers, wherein the intensity values of the light transmitted through the fiber or fibers are provided by light into the fiber or fibers and at the other end of the fiber or fibers depend on the bending of the bending-sensitive sections and represent the measured variables (fi (t)) of the bending sensor device, the evaluation device (A) deriving from the transmission values the bending angles (± (t)) occurring during the measuring period and, therefrom, the bending speeds (vi (t)). 4. Device according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the evaluation device (A) is designed such that it from the for a respective body portion (1, 2, n) determined bending angles (± (t)) and / or bending speeds (vi (t ) discards a proportion of maximum and / or minimum values of bending angles (± (t)) and / or bending speeds (vi (t)), in particular a percentage of maximum and / or minimum values of all values of bending angles (± (t )) and / or bending speeds (vi (t)), preferably a percentage of 10% or less, more preferably a percentage of 5%. 5. Device according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the evaluation device (A) is designed such that it as at least a part of the movement information for a respective body portion (1, 2, n) determines a two-dimensional histogram (HI), which for the in Measuring period occurring bending angle (± (t)) contains the frequency distribution of the bending angles occurring for the respective bending angle (vi (t)). 6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the user interface (UI) is configured such that it can visualize the one or two-dimensional histograms (HI) on a display device. 7. Device according to claim 6, wherein the visualization of a two-dimensional histogram (HI) is configured in such a way that for the histogram (HI) a diagram with two mutually perpendicular axes is displayed on a display device, one axis representing the bending angles (FIG. ± (t)) and the other axis occurring Bie ^¬ gegeschwindigkeiten (vi (t)) represents occurring and the frequencies of at respective bend angles (± (t)) in the diagram bending speeds (vi (t)) are coded. 8. Device according to one of claims 5 to 7, wherein the movement information further, the entropy of a respective two-dimensional histogram (HI) and / or one or more moments of the respective two-dimensional histogram (HI), in particular the variance and / or standard deviation and / or Leaness, includes, which at least partially via the Be ^¬ user interface (UI) can be output. 9. Device according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the evaluation device (A) is designed such that it for a respective body portion (1,2 _,, n) the maximum value (oi _max , i (t), v _maXfi (t)) and minimum value ( _min , i (t), determines v _m i _n, i (t)) of the bending angle (± (t)) and the Biegegeschwindigkei ^¬ th (vi (t)) and the bending region thereof (WB) and the speed range (GB) is determined. 10. Apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the maximum value (oimax, i (t), v _max , i (t)) and minimum value ( _min , i (t), V _m i _ni i (t)) di ^¬ rectly from the determined by the evaluation (A) bending angles (± (t)) and bending speeds (vi (t)) be ^¬ true. Device according to claim 9 or 10 in combination with one of claims 5 to 8, wherein the maximum value ( _max , i (t), v _max , i (t)) and minimum value (a _m i _n , i (t), v are determined _miriii (t)) from the two-dimensional histogram jeweili ^¬ gene (HI). 12. Device according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the user interface (UI) is configured such that on a display device for one or more body sections (1, 2, n) each of the bending region (WB) and the speed range (GB) via a Beams (Bl, Bl ', B7, B7') visualized, the width and height of the size of the bending region (WB) and the speed range (GB) represent, in particular the width of Bal ^¬ kens (Bl, Bl ', B7, B7 ') the size of the bending area (WB) and in particular the height of the beam (Bl, Bl', B7, B7 ') reflects the size of the speed range (GB). 13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein a plurality of bars for different successive body sections (1, 2, n) are arranged one above the other or side by side on the display device, wherein preferably a higher arranged bar a further in the direction of the spine column arranged body portion (1, 2 , n) in the form of a spine portion. 14. The apparatus of claim 12 or 13, wherein by the position of the bars (Bl, Bl ', B7, B7') with respect to at least one reference line (L, L ') of the maximum value and minimum value of the bending region (WB) and / or speed range (GB). 15. Device according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the movement information in addition to the bending area (WB) and the speed range (GB) contains further information, in particular information about a normal range of the bending range (WB) and the speed range (GB) and / or the information as to how large the deviation of the bending range (WB) and the speed range (GB) from a standard range, wherein the further information can be output at least partially via the user interface (UI). 16. The apparatus of claim 15 in combination with one of claims 12 to 14, wherein the standard range by additional Bar (RB) is visualized on the display device and / or the deviation from the normal range via a color coding of the bars (Bl, Bl ', B7, B7') is visualized on the display device. 17. A method for computer-aided processing of bending information of a human or animal body, in particular a back, in which:  bending information is detected by means of a data recording device (DA) and / or detected bending information is read from a memory, the detected bending information representing measured data (fi (t)) of a bending sensor device (BS) and representing bends of the body in a measuring period; - The measurement data (fi (t)) are evaluated by an evaluation device (A) such that from the measurement data (fi (t)) in at least part of the measurement period in one or more body sections (1, 2, n) occurring bending angle (± (t)) and bending speeds (vi (t)) are determined and from this for a respective Körperab ^¬ section (1, 2, n) a motion information is calculated which the bending range (WB) of in at least a part of measurement period occurring bending angles (± (t)) and the speed range (GB) occurring in at least part of the egg nem measurement period Biegegeschwindig ^¬ speeds (vi (t)) includes; the movement information is at least partially outputted through a Be ^¬ user interface (UI).