A stacked autoencoder-based aid system for severity degree classification of knee ligament rupture.

Background: Knee ligament rupture is one of the most common injuries, but the diagnosis of its severity tends to require the use of complex methods and analyses that are not always available to patients.

Aim: The objective of this research is the investigation and development of a diagnostic aid system to analyze and determine patterns that characterize the presence of the injury and its degree of severity.

Methods: Implement a novel proposal of a framework based on stacked auto-encoder (SAE) for ground reaction force (GRF) signals analysis, coming from the GaitRec database. Analysis of the raw data is used to determine the main features that allow us to diagnose the presence of a knee ligament rupture and classify its severity as high, mid or mild.

Results: The process is divided into two stages to determine the presence of the lesion and, if necessary, evaluate variations in features to classify the degree of severity as high, mid, and mild. The framework presents an accuracy of 87 % and a F1-Score of 90 % for detecting ligament rupture and an accuracy of 86.5 % and a F1-Score of 87 % for classifying severity.

Conclusion: This new methodology aims to demonstrate the potential of SAE in physiotherapy applications as an evaluation and diagnostic tool, identifying irregularities associated with ligament rupture and its degree of severity, thus providing updated information to the specialist during the rehabilitation process.