Can Your Optometrist Reduce Risk of Falls for You or Your Loved Ones?
For the most impatient readers among you, I will save you some time. The answer is yes, he can, or at least he will be able to very soon.
Now that you know the answer, let me explain in more detail the why and the how for the more investigative minds, the simply more curious or scientifically inclined readers.
Falls are a major cause of injury, disability, and death in older adults. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), one in four adults aged 65 and older experience a fall each year.
To reduce the risk of falls, innovative technologies and interventions are being developed, including NeurOpTrek? powered by Sensoria?: NeurOpTrek
The joint multidisciplinary team at Padula Rehab Tech (PRT) and Sensoria Health won a prestigious prize from The American Academy of Optometry Foundation (AAOF) at the inaugural BRIGHT IDEAS Pitch Competition in San Diego on October 27, 2022.?The competition was awarded by a jury of leaders in the optometry and ophthalmology research industry and was designed to provide recognition, mentoring, and some limited monetary reward to new or early-stage entrepreneurs with an idea or innovation that has the potential to improve people’s lives. The American Academy of Optometry (AAO) also recognizes the importance of vision in fall prevention and offers an annual prize for research related to the topic. The William C. Ezell Fellowship, sponsored by the American Academy of Optometry Foundation, awards up to $15,000 to optometry students or recent graduates who are pursuing a career in academia and conducting research related to visual function and its relationship to balance and mobility. This prize demonstrates the AAO's commitment to promoting research and education in fall prevention, particularly as it relates to vision and optometry.
What are the Factors that Increase Risk of Falls?
There are multiple factors but risk of falls generally increases with age, frailty and can be influenced by factors such as medication use, chronic health conditions, and environmental hazards. Falls can result in serious injuries such as fractures, head injuries, and soft tissue damage. They can also have a psychological impact, leading to fear of falling, social isolation, depression and more falls.
What is NeurOpTrek??
NeurOpTrek? is a new solution designed from the ground up for optometrists that wish to focus on their patients' needs for fall assessments, prevention, and rehabilitation. This innovative cloud connected wearable system helps to improve balance, gait, and coordination, reducing the risk of falls by allowing each clinician to collect the appropriate data to then prescribe yoked prism lenses.
Research has proven that dysfunction within the visual process relative to the sensorimotor system will cause a shift. This shift in the visual midline adds to postural imbalance and can also be responsible for dizziness and vertigo: NeurOpTrek? Assesses Fall Risk with Reduced Fall Outcomes (padularehabtech.com)
"NeurOpTrek brings an evidenced based means for optometrists to assist their determination of patients who have issues with posture, balance and potential fall risk. It offers a new proposed standard of care that is based on innovative research and algorithms to assist the optometrist in making a decision about how to evaluate and analyze the relationship between vision and the proprioceptive base of support to improve gait and balance. Also, NeurOpTrek can help with both those patients with a neurological event as well as in sports vision therapy.”??William V. Padula OD SFNAP FAAO FNORA
Who is Dr. William Padula?
Dr. William Padula is a leader in his industry, an optometrist and vision rehabilitation specialist who has developed a unique approach to fall prevention called the Padula Institute of Vision. Padula's approach involves evaluating and treating visual deficits that can contribute to falls, such as binocular vision problems and visual processing delays.
What is the Makes it Different from Other Solutions?
Starting with NeurOpTrek? powered by Sensoria?, PRT and Sensoria Health are implementing real innovations for fall prevention and rehabilitation, helping individuals to improve their balance and coordination. By evaluating and treating vision deficits, optometrists can help to improve an individual's visual function and reduce their risk of falls. Wearable technology such as the Sensoria? smart socks, shoes, and insoles can provide real-time feedback on gait and balance, helping individuals to improve their overall stability and reduce the risk of falls.
This is achieved thanks to the combination of state-of-the-art algorithms for automatic detection and monitoring of specific Gait Phases combined with real time foot pressure measurements. This unique data fusion makes it possible to estimate the Deviance between the Center of Pressure (COP) and the Center of Mass of the subject, which is strictly related to the vision deficit that must be corrected.
A key advantage of the solution is the ease of use for an optometrist, the mobility and simplicity of the innovative devices involved. All the hardware needed can be enclosed in a small suitcase as big as a tablet. Also, the mat provided to conduct the tests is just 3x8 feet and makes it possible to be used also in a small optometry?office corridor.
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How Can Optometry Contribute to a Solution for Fall Prevention?
Optometry plays a critical role in fall prevention by evaluating and treating vision deficits that can contribute to an increased risk of falls. Visual impairments such as cataracts, glaucoma, and macular degeneration can affect an individual's depth perception, balance, and coordination. By identifying and treating these conditions, optometrists can help to improve an individual's visual function and reduce their risk of falls. In the case of patients with traumatic brain injury in particular, the physical and cognitive changes that often accompany TBI, such as muscle weakness and difficulty with attention and memory, can further increase the risk of falls. In some cases, medications prescribed for TBI-related symptoms can also cause dizziness or drowsiness, which can contribute to falls. Finally, TBI can also affect an individual's ability to judge distance, depth perception, and reaction time, which can all impact their ability to avoid obstacles and maintain balance.
What is Sensoria Health?
Sensoria Health is a company that develops smart garments, remote patient monitoring and wearable technology. Their products include smart socks, smart shoes, and smart insoles that use sensors to track movement and provide real-time feedback on gait and balance. This technology can help individuals improve their gait and balance, reducing the risk of falls. The dedicated microelectronics, mobile apps and cloud system that interface with those smart wearable, smart footwear devices provide real time feedback to the user and relevant data to the clinician.
Conclusions
In conclusion, the risk of falls is a serious concern for older adults, but there are innovative technologies and interventions available to help reduce this risk. NeurOptrek? powered by Sensoria? is an example of innovative solution approaches to fall prevention and rehabilitation. By combining these technologies and interventions with proper medication management, environmental modifications, and regular exercise, individuals can significantly reduce their risk of falls and improve their overall quality of life.
NeurOpTrek? once available, will be pioneering new tool in diagnosis and treatment of balance/posture dysfunction. It is now patent pending and is evidence based. We are now looking for clinical partners and early adopters to help us test clinically validate the system.
The following research studies support our development efforts and discuss relevant data and traits that increase the Risk of Fall. Most of this data can now be collected and analyzed objectively by our system by your optometrist:
Specifically states that COM sway increases the risk of fall. Fallers have greater postural sway both anterioposterior and lateral.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4254896/???Several indications of risk of fall include longer time spent in double support; slower gait; shorter strides; COG is outside BOS more than 80% of gait.
The increase in medio-lateral sway occurred with higher than expected increases in fall rates.
This study explored whether variance to stabilize the CoM was related to future falls.
If you have questions about this studies and our solution do not hesitate to reach out to us: Sensoria Health
Enjoy your weekend.
Davide Vigano'
President and Chief Executive Officer @ Cerulean Scientific | Medical Device Innovation Making a Difference in People’s Lives
1 年Great technology Davide!
Private Label & OEM | Med-tech
1 年Just out of curiosity have you classified it as Medical device or wellness or something else in this space? Davide Vigano