Wu Ge, Xue Shuwan
Department of Rehabilitation and Movement Science, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT 05405, USA.
IEEE Trans Neural Syst Rehabil Eng. 2008 Apr;16(2):178-83. doi: 10.1109/TNSRE.2007.916282.
Falls and the resulting hip fractures in the elderly are a major health and economic problem. The goal of this study was to investigate the feasibility of a portable preimpact fall detector in detecting impending falls before the body impacts on the ground. It was hypothesized that a single sensor with the appropriate kinematics measurements and detection algorithms, located near the body center of gravity, would be able to distinguish an in-progress and unrecoverable fall from nonfalling activities. The apparatus was tested in an array of daily nonfall activities of young (n=10) and elderly (n=14) subjects, and simulated fall activities of young subjects. A threshold detection method was used with the magnitude of inertial frame vertical velocity as the main variable to separate the nonfall and fall activities. The algorithm was able to detect all fall events at least 70 ms before the impact. With the threshold adapted to each individual subject, all falls were detected successfully, and no false alarms occurred. This portable preimpact fall detection apparatus will lead to the development of a new generation inflatable hip pad for preventing fall-related hip fractures.
老年人跌倒及其导致的髋部骨折是一个重大的健康和经济问题。本研究的目的是调查一种便携式撞击前跌倒探测器在人体撞击地面之前检测即将发生的跌倒的可行性。研究假设，位于身体重心附近的具有适当运动学测量和检测算法的单个传感器，将能够区分正在进行且无法恢复的跌倒与非跌倒活动。该装置在一组年轻（n = 10）和老年（n = 14）受试者的日常非跌倒活动以及年轻受试者的模拟跌倒活动中进行了测试。使用阈值检测方法，以惯性系垂直速度的大小作为主要变量来区分非跌倒和跌倒活动。该算法能够在撞击前至少70毫秒检测到所有跌倒事件。通过为每个个体受试者调整阈值，所有跌倒均被成功检测到，且未发生误报。这种便携式撞击前跌倒检测装置将推动新一代用于预防与跌倒相关的髋部骨折的充气式髋部护垫的开发。
