I-Corps: Low Cost Gait and Frailty Assessment on Smartphone Platforms

Virginia Polytechnic Institute And State University, Blacksburg VA

Investigators

Abstract

This project focuses on a smartphone-based data acquisition system which has evolved from a multisensory laboratory research system. The project involves applying objective data collection and analytics to detect and quantify gait speed, postural stability, and dynamic stability using readily accessible smartphones for low cost evaluations. The approach provides both short and long term advantages over traditional methods by removing inter-observer variability and by allowing for a big data approach to improve assessments. Over time as data are collected through the STS database, better clinical decision making will be enabled through algorithm refinement. In addition to strengthening the risk assessment result, this approach has the ability to improve the availability of accurate point of care assessments by removing the need for specialist training and facilities. The long term objectives of this effort are to improve treatment outcomes and quality of life by replacing subjective data with objective, information-rich assessments. It is anticipated that long term cost of care will be reduced accordingly. This study has the potential for both societal benefits and as technological advancements in gait and stability measures. The system can enable the health care community to implement widespread gait and stability evaluations as part of the clinical decision making process. Though currently used, these tests are typically restricted to populations with access to large gait laboratories. Increased access may lead to broader use from Cardiac assessment to rehabilitation, to prosthetics training and fitment, and others. The longer term broader impact is the applicability of centralized objective assessment data and long-term outcome for use in medical diagnoses and risk assessments. By providing access to large scale objective data, patterns in test data that have heretofore been impossible to see will become known and useful in better understanding the suitability of different options for clinical care. Furthermore, access to this data by the research community will open the door to large scale epidemiological studies associated with gait and stability characteristics. Specifically, dynamic stability measurements fundamentally extend the clinical horizons of clinical gait and balance assessment.