A Biomechanical Study for Developing Wearable-Sensor System to Prevent Hip Fractures among Seniors

Abstract

Abstract:As the population ages, falls are becoming a major health problem, not only for those with some degree of balance or mobility impairment, but also among healthy active seniors. Previous studies suggest that the degradation of human sensorimotor function related to age contributes to falls. Hip bones are among the most frequently fractured body parts resulting from falls. Hip fractures are a frequent cause of early death, functional dependence, and high medical care costs. The current prevention method is to use hip protectors. Unfortunately, it often fails to do so because the pocket containing the pad can move away from the area during falls. Additionally, some seniors refuse to use hip protectors because they find them constraining. Hence, a new protector that is only activated during a fall is much desired. The current study explored the possibility via biomechanical analyses for building a wearable sensor system that triggers a mini-airbag system during a fall, i.e., the air-pad is only present for protection when a fall occurs. The results have revealed that two sensors placed on the left and right shoulder would be best for a detection of any-direction fall and could be applied for building a wearable sensor system for prevention of hip fractures resulting from falls.

Hammer Throw: A Pilot Study for a Novel Digital-Route for Diagnosing and Improving Its Throw Quality

“…In summary, our study demonstrates that the speedy and complex multi-joint control of the hammer throw might be quantified and characterized by four key parameters: wire-tension, hand and hip height, and trunk tilt. As such, four sensors (i.e., one tension sensor and three IMU (Inertial Measurement Unit [39,40]) sensors) would be sufficient to build a digital system for realizing a real-time biofeedback system in practice. The encouraging reality is that both types of sensors can be applied in wearable devices [2,3,39].…”

Obtaining Vital Distances Using Wearable Inertial Measurement Unit for Real-Time, Biomechanical Feedback Training in Hammer-Throw

“…The next step is to validate the accuracy of the device. It is well known that 3D motion capture technology provides accurate and objective analysis of a variety of human motor skills [14,[24][25][26][27]. Therefore, we employed the synchronized data collection of the IMU and 3D motion capture (Figure 1b) for validating and improving the accuracy of the IMU device.…”

Challenges and Future of Wearable Technology in Human Motor-Skill Learning and Optimization

“…This video-based technology uses multi-cameras to track ~40 reflective markers (their weights are negligible) attached on the body surface. Technically, the tracking can be equivalently done by using 40 wearable IMUs, a sensing technology that measures linear and angular motion with a triad of gyroscopes and triad of accelerometers [21,[37][38][39][40]. As such, motion analysis could switch from labs (multi-camera environment) to the field (wearables) [4], i.e., quantification of limbs' coordination would be no more restricted to labs and become an effortless daily routine for researchers and practitioners.…”

“…The innovative approach will be built on previous studies on anthropometry [12,13,45], 3D motion analysis [25,[46][47][48][49], sensing technology [21,[37][38][39][40]50], and artificial intelligence (AI) [44,[50][51][52][53][54]. This multidisciplinary approach provides a new route to develop a wearable-based method for data analysis and interpretation (motor-control depiction) as well as to distill and package new findings from various areas in realizing the real-time biomechanical feedback training in practice.…”