Every year, 1 in 3 elderly Americans over the age of 65 years is experiencing a drop, according to an Internet publication for girls and women from 14 to 35 years old Pannochka. net In 2010 alone, 2,300,000 non-fatal injuries among the elderly were registered in the emergency departments of US hospitals.
Of these, 662,000 people were hospitalized.
A new invention of employees at Purdue University will soon help elderly people avoid accidental falls with an ordinary smartphone.
A group of researchers from the School of Computer and Electrical Engineering and the Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering, led by Babak Ziaie, will present detailed results of its work at the upcoming World Congress of the International Society for the Study of Posture and Gait 2014, which will be held in July in Canada.
Scientists explain that people with a slow and uneven gait have an increased risk of falls. But to date there are no tools to collect and measure this information in order to warn a person about the risk of falling.
Therefore, the team developed a portable device for a smartphone called SmartGait. It is worn on the wrist and measures the length of the person's step (the distance between the toe of one leg and the heel of the other leg), as well as the distance between the feet and the walking speed.
To create this interesting device, scientists needed to take an ordinary smartphone with a wide-angle lens and add to it an application that records the user's steps and makes the necessary calculations. For these calculations, the application uses special "foot markers", which should be worn on the soles of both shoes.
The device will help the doctor determine the risk of falling in a particular patient.
To test the effectiveness of the SmartGait device, the research team used a laboratory "gold standard" - a system that measures gait parameters using infrared rays.
They report that the new method is able to calculate the length of a person's step with an accuracy of 95%, and the distance between the feet - with an accuracy of 90%.
Ziae says that he was seriously interested in this area after his grandfather fell and broke his thigh. After a while he died, and did not recover from the consequences of severe trauma.
The developers believe that their device can reduce the incidence of such falls among the elderly, as well as among patients with Parkinson's disease and other disorders of movement.
They say that health professionals can now use information from SmartGait to better assess the risks of their patients and make the necessary recommendations. Measures to prevent falls in the elderly can be a correction of vision, physical therapy, special sets of exercises. In addition, this device will help the doctor monitor the effectiveness of treatment.
"The beauty of SmartGait is that it gives you results comparable to systems that cost tens of thousands of dollars. A person can wear it while walking on stairs, during walks, shopping and any other activity. Reducing the risk of falls - this is the prevention of injuries, minimizing pain, maintaining independence and saving lives. We believe that this device will also be very useful for researchers and clinicians who are studying gait, "concluded Ziaie.
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