Predicting Elderly Falls Using the Roll Factor in the "Smart Walk Trainer" Equipment for Body Weight-Balance Analysis

Abstract

The imbalanced posture of the body is a potential risk of accidents in all ages that can be caused by a variety of reasons, including muscle weakness, aging-related deterioration in balance, or neurological problems, possibly see more problem for the elderly. Knowing the weight-bearing condition would be helpful to improve balance of the body to prevent the risk. The “Smart Walk Trainer” equipment has been developed for analyzing the imbalance weight-bearing conditions of both standing and walking manner. It consists of "Force Sensitive Resistor" (FSR) sensors to measure the weight-bearing of the foot, the controlling and processing system of the NI USB-6009 multifunction I/O hardware, and LabVIEW software. The study using this equipment aims to examine the differences between young and elderly subjects in terms of weight-bearing and balance assessment. The result showed the roll_factor of the elderly deviated greatly from the balance point (Right: Mean = -0.72, SD = 1.4; Left: Mean=0.78, SD=1.41) when compared to the young subjects (Right: Mean = 0.01, SD = 0.56; Left: Mean=-0.19, SD = 0.49) which corresponded to the risk of falling in the elderly. The equipment also provides specialists with enhanced clarity regarding weight distribution patterns, enabling them to identify any abnormalities and then provide targeted exercise recommendations to strengthen specific muscles and promote improved balance for fall prevention.