FunBOS

Understanding the foot support that enables us to stabilize

Principal Investigator: Dr. Lizeth Sloot

FAB member: Miss Liyi Chen

Funder: NUAcT fellowship (Newcastle University)

Collaborating institutions: University of Stuttgart (M Millard), Oxford University Hospitals

Our study aims to:

Currently, there is no accurate, sensitive and easy method for early identification of different balance problems that occur when we age, which limits the prevention of falls 
We aim to improve balance assessment accuracy through a better understanding of the foot’s support area
A logo with a hexagon and a molecular structure icon above the word "MODELS" in white on a black background.
Silhouette of a person falling into a puddle or on the ground.

Our Methods

Develop a model of the foot support area by measuring the largest area of the foot sole that can support a person’s weight to redirect balance, using motion and force sensors
Investigate changes in the foot support area with ageing
Icon of a walking person with a ball, encircled at the feet.
A white silhouette of an elderly person with a cane, walking.
Silhouette of a sock on a flat surface. 
Integrate the foot support area models into dynamic balance measures (e.g., extrapolated centre of mass xCOM) and demonstrate how balance changes with ageing

Impact

Multiple white line graphs plotted on a black background, showing trends over the same time period. 
We have shown that only a small area (23%) of our feet can be used to control our balance 
This foot area considerably decreases with age to 13% in those over 65 years 
This shows that current measures and studies have considerably overestimated how far people were from loosing balance (xCOM measure) and do not account for this decrease with age (outcomes to follow)
We shared fBOS models for young and old and code (GitHub) for other to apply to their data
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