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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 Student Accessibility Research Group Centre for Transport Studies Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering University College London, UK. Nick Tyler

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Walking Without Fear: How the Footway Environment Can Eliminate Fear of Falling in the Elderly

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  1. 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 EngineeringUniversity College London, UK Nick Tyler Chadwick Professor of Civil EngineeringDepartment of Civil, Environmental and GeomaticEngineeringUniversity College London, UK

  2. 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 Image: Age UK

  3. Introduction ? Walking on the Pavement - Gait studies - Physiotherapeutic intervention - Geriatrics - Pavement design - Pedestrian environment - Accessibility

  4. 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

  5. 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

  6. Methods – Experiment Set-up • Plantar insoles • Eye tracker • Step • CCD cameras

  7. 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.

  8. Analysis and Preliminary Results Walking pattern analysed by MATLAB R2012a (The MathWorks, Inc.)

  9. Preliminary Results – Gait Cycle Right foot Left foot

  10. Preliminary Results – Gait Cycle Heel strike Heel strike Toe off Toe off

  11. Discussion • Validity of the design of the experiment • Further studies • Models of walking patterns during step negotiation • Gait parameters • Future experiment with older people

  12. 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 Image: TSC, Berkeley

  13. For further information, please contact Tsu-Jui Cheng tsu-jui.cheng.10@ucl.ac.uk

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