Footwear-based physical activity biofeedback device for weight management

描述(申请人提供)：成人和儿童超重或肥胖的人数持续增加，并已达到流行比例。肥胖是由于持续的正能量平衡(能量摄入和能量消耗)，通常伴随着低水平的身体活动(即久坐不动的生活方式)。服从和不活动的结合导致高血压、中风、冠状动脉疾病、血脂异常、2型糖尿病、睡眠呼吸暂停和许多其他疾病的发病率和死亡率增加。为了减少这些健康风险，建议个人通过改变生活方式和从事日常体力活动来监测和管理自己的体重。姿势分配(躺着、坐着和站着的时间)反映了一个人的生活方式，并与肥胖有关，这表明监测姿势分配的能力可能对体重管理有用。监测体重和量化体力活动的仪器(如加速计)已被证明对参与体重管理计划的个人有益，但在自由生活条件下精度有限。准确监测体重、姿势分配、体力活动(即运动)和能量消耗的单一设备将是体重管理的一个极其有用的工具。我们的长期目标是开发一种简单、廉价、不显眼的设备，可以轻松地整合到传统鞋类中，并能够准确地测量体重、姿势分配、体力活动和日常能量消耗。这样的设备可以用来量化和修改超重和肥胖个人以及其他久坐生活方式的人的身体活动和生活方式行为。我们建议，通过开发一个基于鞋类的硬件系统来测量足底压力和脚部加速度，结合一个对活动和能量消耗进行分类并通过手机提供反馈的软件系统，我们将提供一种可以帮助自由生活的成年人成功控制体重的设备。拟议的方法基于廉价的技术，将使研究、临床和消费者应用程序能够估计日常能量消耗和行为改变。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The number of adults and children who are overweight or obese continues to increase and has reached epidemic proportions. Obesity is due to a sustained positive energy balance (energy intake > energy expenditure) and is typically coupled with low levels of physical activity (i.e. sedentary lifestyles). The combination of obesit and inactivity has resulted in increased morbidity and mortality from hypertension, stroke, coronary artery disease, dyslipidemia, type 2 diabetes, sleep apnea and a number of other conditions. To reduce these health risks, individuals are advised to monitor and manage their weight by altering lifestyle and engaging in daily physical activity. Posture allocation (time spen lying, sitting and standing) reflects an individual lifestyle and is related to obesity, which suggests that the ability to monitor posture allocation may be useful for weight management. Instruments that monitor body weight and quantify physical activity (e.g. accelerometers) have proven to be beneficial for individuals engaged in weight management programs but have limited accuracy in free-living conditions. A single device that accurately monitors body weight, posture allocation, physical activity (i.e. movement), and energy expenditure would be an extremely useful tool for weight management. Our long-term objective is to develop a simple, inexpensive, unobtrusive device that can easily be incorporated into conventional footwear and can accurately measure body weight, posture allocation, physical activity and daily energy expenditure. Such a device could be used to quantify and modify physical activity and lifestyle behavior in overweight and obese individuals and others with sedentary lifestyles. We propose that by developing a footwear-based hardware system that measure plantar pressure and acceleration of the foot, combined with a software system that classifies activities and energy expenditure and provides feedback via a mobile phone, we will offer a device that can assist in successful weight management in free-living adults. The proposed methodology is based on inexpensive technology that would enable research, clinical and consumer applications for estimating daily energy expenditure and behavior modification.