Abstract
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Research suggests that neck strength measurements may predict risk of mild Traumatic Brain Injuries (mTBIs), such as concussions. However, existing neck strength assessment tools are often unreliable or immobile. This article describes a prototype of a portable, low-cost neck strength measurement system. The prototype consists of off-the-shelf hardware components paired with a cross-platform mobile application that guides the user through the assessment protocol, records neck strength readings over BLE, and saves subject records to a cloud database.
The prototype has been tested successfully and reliably obtains neck strength assessment readings. A heuristic evaluation identifies improvements to implement in the mobile application. Lessons learned on creating BLE-enabled hardware/software pairings are presented. Future work includes integrating predictive algorithms for mTBI risk, miniaturizing the hardware design, and a field evaluation.