Walking Without Fear: How the Footway Environment Can Eliminate Fear of Falling in the Elderly Tsu-Jui Cheng Research Student Accessibility Research Group Centre for Transport Studies Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering University College London, UK Nick Tyler Chadwick Professor of Civil Engineering Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering University College London, UK

Introduction Falling in the elderly –About 2,300 people over 65 in the UK fall every day –£2.3 billion was spent on patients with a hip fracture, estimated by National Osteoporosis Society, UK Physical degeneration –Ageing balancing mechanism –Age-related diseases Fear of Falling –Physical frailty –Avoidance of activities Image: Age UK

Introduction - Pavement design - Pedestrian environment - Accessibility - Gait studies - Physiotherapeutic intervention - Geriatrics ? Walking on the Pavement

Research Objectives To demonstrate the coping strategies used for negotiating steps on the pavement To establish the threshold between conscious and non-conscious gait adjustment To understand how pedestrian environment affects walking patterns To check the protocol and feasibility of an experiment intended to inform on the above objectives

Methods Participant One young female participant for validating the protocol Apparatus Eye tracker (iView X HED) Plantar insoles (F-Scan system by Tekscan, Inc.) Procedure The participant walked along the walkway with only one step between level and 125 mm Both ascending and descending directions were conducted

Methods – Experiment Set-up 1.Plantar insoles 2.Eye tracker 3.Step 4.CCD cameras

Analysis and Preliminary Results Screenshot from CCD cameras shows the stepping process. Screenshot from the eye tracker video. The red cursor represents a visual fixation.

Analysis and Preliminary Results Walking pattern analysed by MATLAB R2012a (The MathWorks, Inc.)

Preliminary Results – Gait Cycle Right foot Left foot

Preliminary Results – Gait Cycle Heel strike Toe off Heel strike Toe off

Discussion Validity of the design of the experiment Further studies Models of walking patterns during step negotiation Gait parameters Future experiment with older people

Conclusion Establish and quantify the capabilities required by the pedestrian environment Explore how older people navigate on the pavement and what environmental cues they need Improve the pavement design to eliminate the risk as well as fear of falling Image: TSC, Berkeley

For further information, please contact Tsu-Jui Cheng