Validation of Smartphone Sway Analysis for Fall Prevention

Matthew Cimera,Arkady Voloshin

doi:10.3390/app112210577

Abstract

Analysis of the balance and sway of the elderly remains a field continuously studied for additional means of assessing the risks of falls. Almost 50% of falls among the elderly lead to serious injuries, and falls are the leading cause of death for the elderly. Thus, the development of a convenient method to assess the risks of falling would be beneficial in helping to diminish these risks. We recorded the sway data by using the widely acceptable force plate and simultaneously compared it to the angular orientation measured by a cell phone’s accelerometer attached to the subject. It was found that the correlation of the average path length and average velocity between the results from the force plate and the phone application were 0.83 and 0.86 respectively. Overall, the direction of the strongest correlation was in the anterior–posterior (AP) direction that is mostly associated with falls. The smart phone application was able to represent the results that were gathered by the force plate, thus opening the door to a simpler way to track sway variables in the elderly without the necessity to come to a doctor’s office.

Highlights

IntroductionSince falls are the leading cause of death among the elderly, the creation of a method and system of analysis, as well as a monitoring device that will help to assess the risk of falling more conveniently, will be beneficial in helping to diminish the risk of falls
Falls among the elderly lead to a serious injury almost 50% of the time [1]
While there were differences in correlation depending on the direction, it is of less concern due to the increased risk of falls associated with swaying in the anterior-posterior direction [1]

Summary

Introduction

Since falls are the leading cause of death among the elderly, the creation of a method and system of analysis, as well as a monitoring device that will help to assess the risk of falling more conveniently, will be beneficial in helping to diminish the risk of falls Such a method would need to be able to consider factors of sway that have been identified as major risks. Developments in force plate analysis lead to the development of the commercial product “BTracksS (Balance Tracking Systems, Inc., CA, USA http://balancetrackingsystems.com/, accessed on 9 November 2021)” which became an acceptable clinical tool for postural sway analysis. This tool is based on a force plate [5]

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Discussion

Conclusion