Citation

Hu X, Qu X. Biomed. Eng. Online 2016; 15(1): 61.

Affiliation

Institute of Human Factors and Ergonomics, College of Mechatronics and Control Engineering, Shenzhen University, 3688 Nanhai Avenue, Shenzhen City, Guangdong Province, China. quxd@szu.edu.cn.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2016, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group - BMC)

DOI

10.1186/s12938-016-0194-x

PMID

27251528

Abstract

Pre-impact fall detection has been proposed to be an effective fall prevention strategy. In particular, it can help activate on-demand fall injury prevention systems (e.g. inflatable hip protectors) prior to fall impacts, and thus directly prevent the fall-related physical injuries. This paper gave a systematical review on pre-impact fall detection, and focused on the following aspects of the existing pre-impact fall detection research: fall detection apparatus, fall detection indicators, fall detection algorithms, and types of falls for fall detection evaluation. In addition, the performance of the existing pre-impact fall detection solutions were also reviewed and reported in terms of their sensitivity, specificity, and detection/lead time. This review also summarized the limitations in the existing pre-impact fall detection research, and proposed future research directions in this field.

Language: en