EU Falls Festival 2017 - Insights on physical activity monitoring

On May 8 and 9 2017, the annual European Falls Festival was held at the Amsterdam Medical Centre, with the theme “Developing Collaborations across Professions and throughout Europe”.  Leading multi-disciplinary professionals were brought together at the highly respected conference to discuss the research and innovation in the study and implementation of falls prevention in older people. The Accelerometry.eu team was present to exhibit our latest products, including the MOX accelerometry sensor. The topic of “fall technologies”, which can be classified in four domains: fall detection, fall assessment, fall prediction and fall intervention, were addressed in many presentations. Wearable physical activity monitoring technologies were highlighted in many presentations. An overview of interesting topics is included below:

Physical activity monitoring

Being physically active in a safe manner

Valpreventie.be provides useful information on fall prevention methods and strategies for older persons and caregivers. The theme of the national Belgian Fall Prevention Week was “Stay Active, Do It Safe”. On being safe while staying physically active, topics relevant to daily physical activities were brought to attention. These include footwear, vision, medication, dizziness, food and home/environment safety. Physical activity monitors with fall detection algorithms can be used to detect falls and provide additional safety by calling for help if appropriate.

After hospital discharge

Bianca Buurman, Professor of Transitional Care at the Amsterdam Medical Centre, highlighted the importance of early mobilization and physical activity 10-15 days following hospital discharge. There is a potential for eHealth activity monitoring tools to support transitional care interventions. By encouraging appropriate physical regimens in transitional care, the long term risk of falls due to functional decline may be reduced.

Novel technologies for successful fall prevention

Luca Palemerini, Research Fellow at the University of Bologna and Adjunct Professor of the Biomedical Signals & Data Processing course of the Master degree in Electronic Engineering, provided a stimulating overview of technology for fall detection and fall risk estimation using wearable sensors and data mining. The opportunities for wearable accelerometers are:

  • fall risk assessment
  • activity monitoring
  • intervention / fall prevention trainig
  • assisted living

for more information about MOX Accelerometry or accelerometer-based algorithms.