Towards unobtrusive in vivo monitoring of patients prone to falling

J.M. Karel*, R. Senden, J.E. Janssen, H.H. Savelberg, B. Grimm, I.C. Heyligers, Ralf Peeters, K. Meijer

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference article in proceedingAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

Falling is a serious health problem for many elderly. To investigate whether the higher fall incidence in elderly is due to a higher probability of experiencing near falls in daily life, it is necessary to evaluate the stumble incidence of elderly in daily life. Accelerometers are already frequently used for in vivo activity monitoring. The current study investigates whether an ambulant and unobtrusive accelerometer can identify stumbles from treadmill walking using a wavelet based detection approach. Seventy nine healthy subjects walked on a treadmill with a triaxial accelerometer attached at the level of the sacrum. Stumbles were induced using a specially designed braking system (The TRiP). The TRiP evoked 30 stumbles at different phases of the swing phase. A wavelet-based detection algorithm is used to isolate the stumbles from treadmill walking, with a specificity of 99.9% and a sensitivity of 98.4%.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publication2010 Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology
PublisherIEEE
Pages5018-5021
ISBN (Print)9781424441235
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Jan 2010
Event2010 Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society - Buenos Aires, Argentina
Duration: 31 Aug 20104 Sept 2010

Conference

Conference2010 Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society
Abbreviated titleEMCB 2010
Country/TerritoryArgentina
CityBuenos Aires
Period31/08/104/09/10

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