DEVELOPMENT TRENDS AND RESULTS IN SPINAL TESTS

Abstract

Spinal tests have been performed by an ultrasound-based movement test system at the Biomechanical Laboratory of the Department of Applied Mechanics of the Budapest University of Technology and Economics for several years. The system is suitable for rapid tests of the mobility, structure, and deformations of the spine, screening tests, and monitoring. Tests and evaluation take a short time: a complete screening test takes 20 to 25 minutes, a simplified test about 5 minutes. Besides its numerous advantages, it should be noted that the total cost of installing the system - equipment, software, hardware - is only about 8000 EUR. This article presents the structure and use of a modern ultrasound-based system as well as the results of our investigations.