Engineering strategies for the prevention of falls and fall-related injuries

福尔斯是加拿大受伤的第一大原因，对老年人造成的伤害尤其严重，超过90%的髋部骨折和手腕骨折都是由摔倒引起的。拟议的研究计划将产生用于诊断老年人福尔斯和跌倒伤害风险的改进技术，以及用于增强平衡和降低跌倒伤害风险的新设备。关于跌倒预防，我们将开发新的措施，这些措施足够复杂，可以识别导致平衡障碍的生理机制，但又足够简单，可以在医生办公室使用。我们还将研究新鞋提高姿势稳定性的潜力，这种鞋在站立时提供了增强的支撑基础和增加的踝关节扭矩。关于防止跌倒时受伤，我们将开发软壳髋关节保护器，其能够提供与刚性壳保护器相似或更好的力衰减，刚性壳保护器的用户依从性较差。我们还将设计用于疗养院和医院的低刚度防摔地板，这种地板可以减弱冲击力，但不会太软，从而损害平衡并导致福尔斯摔倒。最后，我们将开发可穿戴传感器和微处理器，用于检测日常生活中的滑倒、绊倒和福尔斯（以及锻炼计划和环境改变对姿势稳定性的影响），并用于测量福尔斯过程中的冲击力。拟议的研究包括高素质人才的培训，以及有针对性的努力，以传播生物力学研究界以外的结果，以医疗保健行业和专业人士。这项为期五年的基础和应用研究计划将为预防老年人受伤和提高生活质量提供有价值的新工具。

Falls are the number-one cause of injury in Canada, and exert a particularly heavy toll on the elderly, as the cause of over 90% of hip fractures and wrist fractures. The proposed research program will generate improved techniques for diagnosing risk for falls and fall injuries among the elderly, and novel devices for enhancing balance and reducing risk for injury in the event of a fall. With regard to fall prevention, we will develop new measures that are complex enough to identify the physiological mechanisms that are causing balance impairment, yet simple enough for use in a doctor's office. We will also examine the potential for enhancing postural stability with novel footwear, which provides an enhanced base of support and increased ankle torque during stance. With regard to preventing injuries in the event of a fall, we will develop soft-shell hip protectors that are capable of providing similar or better force attenuation that rigid-shell protectors, which suffer from poor user compliance. We will also design low-stiffness, fall-proof flooring for use in nursing homes and hospitals, which attenuates impact force but is not so soft that it impairs balance and causes falls. Finally, we will develop wearable sensors and microprocessors for detecting slips, trips, and falls in daily life (and the influence on postural stability of exercise programs and environmental modifications), and for measuring impact forces during falls. The proposed research incorporates training of highly qualified personnel, and targeted efforts to disseminate results beyond the biomechanics research community to the health care industry and professionals. This five year program of basic and applied research will provide valuable new tools for preventing injuries and enhancing quality of life in elderly individuals.