Fall Risk Assessment Based on Postural-Locomotor-Manual Test Utilizing Miniature Accelerometers

摘要

Falls are a leading cause of fatalities and the most common cause of nonfatal injuries among the elderly. Although results from various functional mobility tests were found to be related to fall occurrence, in reality none of them were completely satisfactory in assessing fall risk. Therefore, the current study proposed a new approach for fall risk assessment based on the Postural-Locomotor-Manual (PLM) test utilizing miniature accelerometers. Fifteen subjects (five healthy young, five healthy old and five fall-prone old) participated in the PLM experiment. The phase time of postural (P), locomotor (L) and manual (M) phases as well as the motion time (MT) and the simultaneity index (SI) were assessed from both the opto-electronic camera system and the accelerometers. The results illustrated significant differences in MT and SI values between the fall-prone and healthy groups, indicating the possibility of utilizing these values as index of fall risk. In addition, PLM parameters assessed from accelerometers agreed well with those assessed from the camera system. Therefore the use of accelerometers appears to be a promising method for conducting PLM test in various clinical settings.