Development of fall prevention training device that can provide external disturbance to the ankle with pneumatic gel muscles (PGM) while walking

TL;DR

This paper presents a wearable fall prevention training device using pneumatic gel muscles that provides external ankle disturbances during walking, aiming to improve gait stability and reduce fall risk.

Contribution

The study introduces a novel, compact ankle disturbance device with pneumatic gel muscles for fall prevention training, demonstrating its effectiveness in gait modification.

Findings

The device significantly affected gait waveform.

The system provides sufficient training intensity.

The device is smaller and more wearable than conventional options.

Abstract

Although the average life expectancy in Japan has been increasing in recent years, the problem of the large gap between healthy life expectancy and average life expectancy is still unresolved. Among the factors that lead to the need for nursing care, injuries due to falls account for a certain percentage of the total. In this paper, we developed boots that can provide external disturbance to the ankle with pneumatic gel muscles (PGM) while walking. We experimented using an angular velocity and acceleration of the heel as evaluation indices to evaluate the effectiveness of fall prevention training using this device, which is smaller and more wearable than conventional devices. In this study, we confirmed that the developed system has enough training intensity to significantly affect the gait waveform.