Walking Without Fear: How the Footway Environment Can Eliminate Fear of Falling in the Elderly
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Walking Without Fear: How the Footway Environment Can Eliminate Fear of Falling in the Elderly Tsu-Jui Cheng Research Student Accessibility Research Group Centre for Transport Studies Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering University College London, UK Nick Tyler Chadwick Professor of Civil Engineering Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering University College London, UK
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Walking Without Fear: How the Footway Environment Can Eliminate Fear of Falling in the Elderly. Tsu-Jui Cheng Research Student Accessibility Research Group Centre for Transport Studies Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering University College London, UK. Nick Tyler - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
Transcript of Walking Without Fear: How the Footway Environment Can Eliminate Fear of Falling in the Elderly
Walking Without Fear:
How the Footway Environment Can Eliminate
Fear of Falling in the Elderly
Tsu-Jui Cheng
Research StudentAccessibility Research Group Centre for Transport Studies
Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering
University College London, UK
Nick Tyler
Chadwick Professor of Civil EngineeringDepartment of Civil, Environmental and
Geomatic EngineeringUniversity College London, UK
Introduction
• Falling in the elderly– About 2,300 people over 65 in the UK fall every day– £2.3 billion was spent on patients with a hip fracture,
estimated by National Osteoporosis Society, UK• Physical degeneration
– Ageing balancing mechanism– Age-related diseases
• Fear of Falling– Physical frailty– Avoidance of activities Im
age:
Age
UK
Introduction
- Pavement design- Pedestrian environment- Accessibility
- Gait studies- Physiotherapeutic
intervention- Geriatrics
? Walking on the
Pavement
Research Objectives
• To demonstrate the coping strategies used for negotiating steps on the pavement
• To establish the threshold between conscious and non-conscious gait adjustment
• To understand how pedestrian environment affects walking patterns
• To check the protocol and feasibility of an experiment intended to inform on the above objectives
Methods
• Participant• One young female participant for validating the protocol
• Apparatus• Eye tracker (iView X HED)• Plantar insoles (F-Scan system by Tekscan, Inc.)
• Procedure• The participant walked along the walkway with only one
step between level and 125 mm• Both ascending and descending directions were
conducted
Methods – Experiment Set-up
1. Plantar insoles2. Eye tracker3. Step4. CCD cameras
Analysis and Preliminary Results
Screenshot from CCD cameras shows the stepping process.
Screenshot from the eye tracker video. The red cursor represents a visual fixation.
Analysis and Preliminary Results
Walking pattern analysed by MATLAB R2012a (The MathWorks, Inc.)
Preliminary Results – Gait Cycle
Right foot
Left foot
Preliminary Results – Gait Cycle
Heel strike
Toe off
Heel strike
Toe off
Discussion
• Validity of the design of the experiment• Further studies
• Models of walking patterns during step negotiation• Gait parameters• Future experiment with older people
Conclusion
• Establish and quantify the capabilities required by the pedestrian environment
• Explore how older people navigate on the pavement and what environmental cues they need
• Improve the pavement design to eliminate the risk as well as fear of falling
Imag
e: T
SC
, Ber
kele
y
