The National Institute of Health/National Institute on Aging awarded a grant to AFrame Digital for further research in falls reduction using its wireless mobile care monitor platform.
Along with the University of Virginia and Vinson Hall, a retirement community in McClean Virginia, the groups will monitor 30 residents in their normal living environment so that researchers can capture true daily living activities.
“We are strongly supportive of falls reduction research,” said RADM Kathleen L. Martin, USN (Ret), CEO of Vinson Hall Retirement Community. “We feel this research could play a significant role in predicting and preventing falls. It could ultimately improve the quality of life by keeping older adults mobile and independent not only in retirement communities but wherever they reside.”
“Real time continuous monitoring of gait for the risk of falls must encompass normal activities of daily living. The new study will help differentiate between a wearer’s daily activities and his or her walking. Once periods of walking can be isolated, further progress can be made in the real time analysis of abnormal gait,” said Dr. Amy Papadopoulos, AFrame Digital Senior Research Scientist and PI on the research grant.
UVA will provide the facilities needed to evaluate and test both the hardware and software systems.
“Our primary goal for this research,” says Papadopoulos, “is to develop the ability to automatically separate periods of walking from other daily activities in real time. We will use machine learning techniques to recognize an individual’s own walking pattern. Once that goal is met, we hope to develop a means of analyzing and trending an individual’s gait in real time from data gathered as they go about their lives. This analysis could in turn lead to fewer falls and trips to the emergency room and dramatically improve the lives of millions of people and our nation’s aging population allowing them to live fuller independent lives.”