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Dynamic Balance Assessment

Increased prevalence of obesity (BMI ≥ 30 kg/m²) is a national health concern. Individuals with higher BMIs are exposed to a greater risk of mobility impairments and falls, and have limitations in daily activities compared to individuals with lower BMIs. The focus of this project is on creating a quantitative measure of dynamic balance in individuals with high BMIs, using wearable inertial sensors in a study of 20 individuals with BMIs ranging from 30 to 63 kg/m². While still in progress, the results of this research will be used to develop a real-time automatic detection algorithm identifying poor balance or loss of balance in high-BMI individuals. The below figure is an example of aligned stepping over the task with a timeline showing images and key events for the leading leg and trailing leg with an obstacle height of 36 cm. 

Dynamic2
 
More details can be found on:
Lim, S., Luo, Y., Lee-Confer, J., & D’Souza, C. (2023) Task Performance and Stepping Adaptation during Obstacle Clearance Task in Individuals with High Body Mass Index, Applied Ergonomics, 106, 103879. DOI: 10.1016/j.apergo.2022.103879
Lim, S., Luo, Y., Ebert, S., Johns, M., Varban,  O., & D’Souza, C. (2018).  Preliminary Study of Obstacle Clearance and Compensatory Movements in Individuals with High Body  Mass Index. Proceedings of the 62nd Annual Meeting of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society (HFES), Philadelphia, PA, October 2018, pg: 388 - 392. DOI: 10.1177/1541931218621089