Postural Sway Based Geriatric Fall Risk Assessment Using Kinect

In this paper, we present a fall risk assessment analysis for geriatric population using Kinect, based on study of postural sway variation with progression of age. Fall risk is closely associated with static postural stability. Static postural control is commonly evaluated by analyzing sway of Centre of Pressure (CoP), measured using a force platform. We have estimated the sway of Centre of Mass (CoM) using Motion tracking device Kinect instead of CoP to assess the postural stability of a selected geriatric population. We have computed and studied the sway variation on a group of 45 geriatric people, distributed in three age group: Group1: 65-69 years, Group 2: 70-74 years and Group 3: 75-79 years to understand how sway parameter varies with age and in turn effects balance and fall probability. CoM sway variation has been correlated with Johns Hopkins Fall Assessment scale for each person under study to validate the relation between sway and fall probability. The proposed method and study can be used as a simple screening tool to assess stability problem for geriatric care.