Novel wearable technologies for assessing dynamic balance and risk of falling

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Fall-related injuries are associated with considerable morbidity, premature long-term nursing care, and mortality in the elderly as well as individuals with neuromuscular control deficits. Therefore, fall prevention during daily life is of crucial interest for the Canadian healthcare system due to the economic burden of fall-related injuries and resultant impacts on the quality of life for at-risk individuals. The long-term objective of this research program is to develop wearable technologies for assessing the risk of falling in real-time during daily activities. These technologies would contribute in many ways to reducing the incidence of falling, such as 1) alerting caregivers to high-risk motions of the user prior to an incidence of falling, or 2) providing the user with feedback on how to prevent falls by alteration of the high-risk motion patterns (for example, that can be utilized within therapeutic training programs). To this end, two technical goals will be achieved in this research program: Goal A) Biomechanical mechanisms of loss-of-balance (prior to falling and after a postural perturbation) will be characterized through innovative dynamic balance analysis and measurement techniques. The risk of loss-of-balance will then be quantified based on individual-specific body motion patterns (such as gait parameters and, in general, body joint rotation patterns), neuromuscular strength, and anthropometric characteristics. Goal B) Novel wearable systems will be developed to assess the risk of loss-of-balance based on body motion patterns during daily activities. Typical wearable sensors, such as inertial sensors, will be utilized and novel signal processing techniques will be developed to measure the high-risk body motion patterns identified in Goal A. Goals A and B will be achieved for postural perturbations such as tripping and hitting a bump during walking and wheeling, respectively. These innovative modelling and assessment approaches will then be experimentally validated in a laboratory by creating safe conditions; this will assure the precision of the developed technologies in real-life conditions. In the future, the developed methodologies will be extended for assessing the risk of falling in a wide range of daily activities and major causes of falling. The practical outcome of this research program is a quantitative determination and assessment of individually-specific high-risk body motion patterns in daily activities, which increase the risk of falling. Additionally, this research will result in a better understanding of neuromuscular control mechanisms employed in the body to maintain postural balance and avoid falling. Highly qualified personnel will also be trained to develop their multi-disciplinary engineering skills, become future healthcare leaders, and contribute to the Canadian economy and healthcare system.