Study on Walking Training System for Using High-Performance Shoes with Human Compatibility

Abstract

The number of elderly in the Japanese population has been increasing, and is expected to reach about 40% by 2060. This means that those aged 65 and over in Japan will be roughly every one in 2.5 persons (Cabinet office, Government of Japan, Director General for Policies on Cohesive Society, “H.26 Aged Society White Paper”, 2014, [1]). With this are increases in the need for elder-to-elder nursing and shortage in and an increased burden on care takers. These developments have resulted in efforts to promote independence among the elderly—something that has brought walking to the attention of those promoting good health and independence among the elderly. The increasing number of accidental falls among the elderly while walking (Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, “Comprehensive Survey of Living Conditions” IV conditions of care, [2]). Among the main factors in falls are a deteriorating center of gravity of balance due to declining physical performance and weakening in the muscular strength of the lower limbs. In this study, we focused on shoes to be worn daily in walking aimed at both assisting walking and preventing falls. Further, we proposed training in walking that is continues and daily that detects and corrects the center of balance during walking. To add detection of staggering, we used a sponge-core soft-rubber actuator consisting of open-cell foam sponge coated in silicon rubber. This actuator changes stiffness with inner pressure. Equipping insoles, with it means that it can be used for both detecting the pressure distribution of the foot sole while prompting correct walking by changing the stiffness of the insole. We also developed a means of walking status presentation that confirms walking status on a display in real time.