INITIAL STUDY ON A HOME-BASED FLOOR-MAT SYSTEM FOR FALL PREVENTION OF ELDERLY BASED ON GAIT ANALYSIS

摘要

Falls can have a fatal effect on elderly, and fall-related injuries are increasing dramatically with age. Studies on risk of fall show that falls are often caused by changes in gait characteristics. Early detections by visiting clinic or hospital contribute to the prevention of falls. However, most of the elderly are not willing to visit clinics or hospitals for health screening. Thus, it will be useful if unobtrusive health screenings were to be brought to their home. Design guidelines for the home-based floor-mat include easy setup, simplicity, low cost, and less intervention of daily life are explained and highlighted. With the proposed daily monitoring system, the changes in gait characteristics, hardly distinguishable by the naked-eye, can be noticed. The reliability of the home-system was also verified with a comparison to Gaitrite. Finally, modeling experiments shows the effectiveness of the monitoring system. In conclusion, a home-based floor-mat system is able to provide daily non-intrusive monitoring.