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: