Smart Insoles: Prevention of Falls in Older People through Instant Risk Analysis and Signalling

Abstract

Falls in the elderly are a leading cause of injury, affecting one in three older adults annually. These fall incidents can lead to various disabling conditions, and therefore have the ability to affect one’s quality of life and independence. Not only are falls potentially taxing to the individual, they are also responsible for a big portion of annual health care costs. Due to an ageing society, the number of falls and their consequences will grow in parallel with the expanding number of seniors, becoming an even greater concern for the health care system. Therefore, there is an ever-increasing need to develop (cost-)effective fall prediction systems to reduce these financial and physical burdens associated with the consequences of a fall. Introducing the design proposal of my graduation thesis: smart insoles with accessory mobile application, the ‘StApp’. The insoles with an integrated fall prediction smart system capture the physiological risk factor of an impaired minimum toe clearance (MTC) variable, signal the impending danger to the user, and hence, aid falls prevention in the elderly. The final product consists of three segments, detect - warn - and inform, represented in the two separate products. (Detect) Smart insoles that analyse and monitor the user’s gait in real-time, in particular the MTC parameter, through a sensing technology integrated in the sole. (Warn) When MTC values display an apparent risk, the user is alerted through a technological intervention. This presents itself in the form of vibrational stimulus, embedded in the support arch of the smart insole. Hereby, the whole smart system, including the intervention, is embedded in the smart insole, discreetly concealed. (Inform) For the sensor data to be meaningful to the user, an accessory mobile application monitoring the MTC- and multiple other gait parameters is suggested. The StApp presents concrete information and advice on sufficient and safe exercise to improve the user’s MTC and overall gait and balance. An experimental research study was conducted to preliminarily validate the viability of the main product-idea of the smart insoles, studying the effect of the product’s intervention. A minimum of 2 minutes of treadmill walking was analysed for two young adults (1 M, 1 F) using the Tracker motion analysis software. The effect of the intervention was clearly illustrated in the data gathered in this pilot test, as the effect of the intervention deemed to be statistically for all administered vibrational stimuli. It seems to be an appropriate tool to optimize the toe clearance parameters in the pursuit for strategies of falls prevention. However, further in-depth research is required to explore the intervention’s characteristics and study the effect of the intervention on the elderly’s gait. Finally, as the wearable technology depicted enables optimization of elderly care, healthcare professionals who might be interested in giving more personalized advice to their patients will benefit from the design of the smart insole and accessory StApp, presented in this project.