Validation of a novel knee harness inertial-cum-ultrasound wearable device as a quantitative measure of knee…

Cohort studyJournal of clinical orthopaedics and trauma· Feb 2026

Validation of a novel knee harness inertial-cum-ultrasound wearable device as a quantitative measure of knee function.

Zachariah Gene Wing Ow, Edmund Jia Xi Zhang, Keng Lin Wong

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Musculoskeletal RehabilitationCohort studyQ3IF 1.6

Wearable PRIME score moderately-strongly correlates with International Knee Documentation Committee scores in injured knees.

Validation of a novel knee harness inertial-cum-ultrasound wearable device as a quantitative measure of knee function.

Zachariah Gene Wing Ow … Keng Lin Wong

Journal of clinical orthopaedics and trauma · Feb 2026

Background

Accurate assessment of knee function is essential for diagnosis, monitoring, and rehabilitation of musculoskeletal injuries.

Purpose

This study aimed to validate a novel wearable device, the GATOR system, which integrates inertial measurement units (inertial measurement units) and ultrasound to produce an objective composite knee function score, PRIME.

Methods

In a prospective cohort of 90 participants (180 knees), PRIME scores were obtained for healthy, injured, and contralateral knees, with concurrent International Knee Documentation Committee scores.

n = 180 knees

Results

higher wearable scores track with better patient-reported knee function

74.5%

Sensitivity

82.1%

Specificity

More results

PRIME scores were highest in healthy knees, intermediate in contralateral knees, and lowest in injured knees, with statistically significant differences between all groups (p < 0.001).

ROC analysis yielded an AUC of 0.846.

A PRIME cut-off of 71.2 points optimally discriminated injured from healthy knees (sensitivity 74.5 %, specificity 82.1 %).

More results

The minimal detectable change for PRIME was 39.1 points, suggesting that changes exceeding this threshold likely represent true change beyond measurement error.

“

Conclusion

PRIME appears to be a valid, objective measure of knee function that correlates with patient-reported outcomes in pathological knees and demonstrates good discriminatory performance for detecting knee injury.

Validation of a novel knee harness inertial-cum-ultrasound wearable device as a quantitative measure of knee function.

Validation of a novel knee harness inertial-cum-ultrasound wearable device as a quantitative measure of knee function.

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