The PARAChute Project: Remote Monitoring of Posture and Gait for Fall Prevention
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Research Article The PARAChute Project: Remote Monitoring of Posture and Gait for Fall Prevention ˆ 1 Franc¸ois Charpillet,2 Jamal Saboune,2 Valerie ´ David J. Hewson,1 Jacques Duchene, Michel-Pellegrino,1 1 1 3 2 4 Hassan Amoud, Michel Doussot, Jean Paysant, Anne Boyer, and Jean-Yves Hogrel 1 Institute
Charles Delaunay, FRE CNRS 2848, University of Technology of Troyes, 10000 Troyes, France LORIA 7503, Universit´e de Nancy, CNRS-INRIA, Campus Scientifique, BP 239, 54506 Vandoeuvre-l`es-Nancy, France 3 Institut r´ egional de R´eadaptation, Facult´e de medicine, 9 Avenue de la Forˆet de Haye, BP 184, 54500 Vandoeuvre, France 4 Neuromuscular Physiology Laboratory, Institut of Myology, GH Piti´ e-Salpˆetri`ere, 75651 Paris, France 2 UMR
Received 10 March 2006; Revised 19 October 2006; Accepted 21 February 2007 Recommended by Francesco G. B. De Natale Falls in the elderly are a major public health problem due to both their frequency and their medical and social consequences. In France alone, more than two million people aged over 65 years old fall each year, leading to more than 9 000 deaths, in particular in those over 75 years old (more than 8 000 deaths). This paper describes the PARAChute project, which aims to develop a methodology that will enable the detection of an increased risk of falling in community-dwelling elderly. The methods used for a remote noninvasive assessment for static and dynamic balance assessments and gait analysis are described. The final result of the project has been the development of an algorithm for movement detection during gait and a balance signature extracted from a force plate. A multicentre longitudinal evaluation of balance has commenced in order to validate the methodologies and technologies developed in the project. Copyright © 2007 David J. Hewson et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
1.
INTRODUCTION
The study of balance deficits is of interest for many reasons, in particular for people with various pathological conditions affecting balance and the elderly. In respect to an elderly population, falls are a major problem, in terms of both frequency and consequences. In France alone, more than two million falls are recorded among the elderly each year, leading to more than 9 000 deaths [1]. Most prospective studies have attempted to identify risk factors, particularly in groups at high risk of falling [2–5]. The factors identified in these studies have often varied, mainly due to differences in methodology, diagnosis, and the study population [6]. Nevertheless, several factors are regularly cited, such as muscular weakness [6], a previous fall [5], or balance problems [2, 4, 7–10]. In addition, several factors that augment the risk of falling, such as visual, vestibular, or proprioceptive problems, can manifest themselves by adversely affecting balance [11–13]. In most of these studies, balance is
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