Goal of the research project
Fall risk is multifactorial: its causes can include motor, attentional, or cognitive factors. The Timed Up and Go (TUG) test is widely used to identify individuals at risk of falling. However, this diagnostic test lacks reliability and precision in prevention matters.
To better characterize, understand, and predict this risk of falling, we propose to practitioners a technological solution based on virtual reality, allowing for the collection and identification of various indicators of fall risk. This user-friendly solution automates the experimental protocol and indicator collection, ensures reproducibility of experimental conditions, and immerses the patient in a realistic environment and everyday life situations.
In addition to fall screening, preserving motor, cognitive, and attentional skills contributes to slowing down senescence, more commonly known as the aging process. We will develop a stimulating digital tool based on a playful approach to physical exercise, allowing patients with limited mobility to maintain, as much as possible, an appropriate amount of physical activity for the upper and lower limbs. It is important to note that rehabilitation in a healthcare center is not accessible to everyone, and in this sense, the developed tool should complement and/or extend current care programs.
However, these motivational exercises performed autonomously by the patient or the elderly require supervision and measurement of their effects on the intensity of daily physical activities. Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) sensors are increasingly used to characterize human postures and movements. Identifying new mobility biomarkers should allow for the automated analysis of individual behavioral strategies. This high-level information, shared among healthcare professionals as well as patients and caregivers, will enable the implementation of efficient actions during the care journey.
Our technological contribution also involves combining virtual reality immersion technologies with human motion measurement to quantify, in a health examination, the cognitive-motor performance of the elderly. By enabling early identification of intrinsic fall risk factors, the incidence and severity of falls among the elderly can be reduced. The use of intelligent digital tools will ultimately enable healthcare personnel to conduct this examination using a virtual reality headset.
Furthermore, the French Health Authority published the Personalized Coordination Plan in Health (PPCS) in July 2019, a generic coordination tool aimed at all stakeholders, which emphasizes the development of a coordination culture, notably facilitated by digital technologies. In the context of individuals at risk of loss of autonomy, in addition to the innovative technological solutions we propose, it is essential to implement an ethical and rigorous methodology based on the PPCS model to adapt the proposed exercises to patients during their care journey.
For this project, we plan to develop 3 interconnected actions that will allow: i) precise assessment of the cognitive-motor performance of the elderly, ii) stimulation of the development of physical and mental abilities through motivational exercises, and iii) monitoring of the elderly at their homes to intervene as early as possible in the care journey. Our methodology relies on a set of skills within the consortium to develop new methods for the benefit of patients, caregivers, and healthcare professionals.