When an older person is injured in a fall, the cost is significant, both in quality of life and medical expense.
Wireless body sensor networks that monitor gait, being developed by University of Virginia researchers, could offer a solution on both fronts.
A new consortium of researchers from U.Va.'s School of Engineering, School of Medicine and Department of Psychology, in partnership with the U.Va. Institute on Aging's Translational Research Consortium and AFrame Digital, Inc., a health monitoring and medical alert products company, will soon be providing the wearable sensors to residents of some area long-term care facilities.
The group will use continuous data from these "living laboratories" to test and refine the technology.
"We are moving research from the lab to a living environment," said Regina Carlson, director of development for the Institute on Aging.
"Ultimately, we will gain better research data in these settings."
Falls are the leading cause of injury death among people age 65 and older, according to research compiled by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. They are also the major cause of non-fatal injury and hospitalizations for trauma. By 2020, the annual direct and indirect cost of fall injuries is projected to reach $54.9 billion.
The tool being developed at U.Va. will aid in the identification of gait problems that may result in falls. By wirelessly connecting to a network set up by AFrame Digital, the sensors will provide researchers with real-time data on the nursing home residents' gaits. Using this information, the researchers are working to commercialize a product that will eventually allow geriatricians to accurately assess gait problems and provide the proper interventions - such as a walker - before a fall happens.
This type of sensor technology is also a key component for transitioning to more health care being delivered in patients' homes. Proponents of the shift, including the U.Va. researchers, believe this will help keep health care costs down and promote a better quality of life for patients.
John Lach, an associate professor in the Charles L. Brown Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, has been researching and developing wireless body sensors for the past five years. In this application, the sensors can be worn like a wristwatch. Using parameters determined in a gait laboratory directed by D. Casey Kerrigan, a professor in the School of Medicine's Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Lach has developed sensors that can quantitatively measure the walking patterns that are likely to lead to falls.
Lach's sensors, now about the size of a digital watch face, can measure and transmit data on a wide range of human motion, including linear acceleration, or how fast patients move in a straight path, and rotational rate, which together provide six degrees of freedom motion capture. The sensors are now in their third generation of development and, thanks to the living laboratory model, they will now evolve with faster prototyping cycles that use continuous feedback from the patients.
Currently, monitoring gait-related problems typically requires patients to visit a health care facility, where they walk on a pressure sensitive treadmill and are monitored by video cameras. While accurate, this approach is costly and limited in its application.
Lach's research has the potential to create a new standard of care - one that is ultimately more cost-efficient and applicable to myriad real-world settings. While the current project focuses on gait problems in the elderly, the same technology could potentially be used by the military to monitor and analyze soldiers' movements in combat situations.
While gathering the parties necessary to carry out this project was challenging, the multi-disciplinary approach is proving essential to the project's success. The diversity of expertise also helps ensure the research will have real-world-relevance.
"This research wouldn't be possible without these relationships," Lach said.