Graduate engineers design a 'smart' ankle brace to reduce falls of the
elderly
One in three individuals over the age of 65 will fall in the next year. One
fall in 200 will result in a broken hip. One-half of seniors who break a
hip never regain their full degree of mobility, and one-quarter die within
six months. Falls account for $26 billion in medical costs each year.
Graduate engineering students working with Thomas Andriacchi, professor of
mechanical engineering and orthopedic surgery, recently developed a "smart"
ankle brace for the elderly to correct imbalances and prevent falling. The
Stanford Biodesign Innovation Program sponsored the interdisciplinary project.
Students Tim Ramsey, Ryan McDonnell, Buzzy Bonneau, Tejas Mazmudar, Jeremy
Dittmer and Surag Mantri started working on the project during Winter
Quarter 2005 as part of a two-quarter course, Medical Device Design, taught
by Andriacchi. On the first day of class, students heard from researchers
about critical technological needs in the health care industry. Professor
Paul Yock (Medicine and, by courtesy, Mechanical Engineering) and Ken
Martin (Biodesign) proposed the need for a device to reduce falls in the
elderly.
"The ability to detect and prevent falls would not only cause a significant
cost savings in health care, but would greatly improve the comfort and
lifestyle of this growing segment of the population [the elderly]," wrote
the research team in a comprehensive 89-page report they compiled for their
project.
Falls among the elderly are often due to decreasing proprioception?the
awareness of your body's relationship to its surroundings. Studies have
found that sensitivity to foot position declines as people age. The
researchers conceived that a device that could help simulate this lost
sensitivity could help individuals maintain their balance without relying
on cumbersome support devices, such as walkers, or ineffective devices,
such as canes.
Their invention is an ankle brace containing a smart chip that continuously
monitors the roll of the ankle. If the chip detects a roll that is greater
than normal, it provides a correctional vibration. This vibration helps the
wearer change position or shift balance to avoid a fall in much the same
way that sensory nerves provide correctional feedback to the brain.
"The development of the device is still at a preliminary stage and more
testing, research and funds need to be invested before commercialization is
possible," said Surag Mantri, a bioengineering master's student working on
the project. His team hopes that the brace will eventually become available
to all people over the age of 65, but they plan to target high-risk groups
first: diabetics with peripheral neuropathy, Parkinson's patients and
people with high degrees of proprioceptive loss.
Kendall Madden is a science-writing intern at Stanford News Service.
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BY Kendall Madden
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