New electronic braking system prevents slips on walkers
Rolling walkers – which help senior citizens maintain mobility and an active lifestyle – have just become safer and easier to use.
Cornell University biomedical engineering students working with Weill Cornell Medical College affiliated psychiatrist, Dr Eli Einbinder, have designed an electronic braking system for walkers, with buttons replacing bicycle-style squeeze brakes and also automatic braking that can prevent slips, slides and falls when a user grabs the handgrips.
The aim is to prevent elderly users with limited mobility from inadvertently falling when they use a braking walker.
The “Smart Walker” relies on handgrip sensors. The Smart Walker starts in the braked position. Low-strength users need only touch a button to electronically disengage the brake and begin moving. Once a user removes hands from the handlebar, the walker automatically resets to the braked position.
The added stability and ease of operation for users with reduced hand strength promises to dramatically reduce accidental falls – a significant source of injury among limited-mobility elderly. It can further reduce injury among the elderly by encouraging a more active lifestyle.
Falling down is hazardous to a senior citizen’s health, yet fewer than half of all seniors see a doctor after a fall. And those who don’t seek medical attention are far less likely to engage in any of the six widely recommended activities – such as a review of their medications or getting a cane or walker – that might prevent repeated falls, according to a new policy brief from the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research.
“Following up with a doctor after a fall is critical to senior health,” said UCLA Center for Health Policy Research associate director, Steven Wallace, lead author of the policy brief.
“The safeguards we discuss are some of the best ways of preventing additional falls and the disastrous health consequences associated with falls.”
Falls among the elderly are a widespread problem and are directly linked to declining health among older Americans: More than 1,400 California seniors died due to injuries from falls in 2007, and approximately 67,000 more were hospitalized.
National guidelines issued by the American Geriatrics Society and other organisations recommend the following activities for reducing the risk of falling among older adults with a history of falls:
- an evaluation by a health professional with counseling on how to reduce falls,
- a review of medications,
- home modifications,
- exercise and/or physical therapy
- using a cane or walker if needed.
