Wireless gait monitor

A consortium of University of Virginia researchers is developing a wireless body sensor network system that monitors gait.

Once finished, it could be used to prevent elderly people from falling and injuring themselves.

The university researchers are working with AFrame Digital, a health monitoring and medical alert products company, which will soon be providing the wearable sensors to residents of some long-term care facilities.

By wirelessly connecting to a network set up by AFrame Digital, the sensors will provide researchers with real-time data on the nursing-home residents' gaits.

Using this information, the researchers aim to commercialise a product that will eventually allow geriatricians to accurately assess gait problems and provide intervention before a fall happens.

John Lach, an associate professor in the Charles L Brown Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, has been researching and developing wireless body sensors for the past five years. Using parameters determined in a gait laboratory directed by D Casey Kerrigan, a professor in the School of Medicine's Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Lach's sensors can quantitatively measure the walking patterns that are likely to lead to falls.