Reality instead of lab conditions - Looking for the balance

 

Looking for the balance

Daumer emphasized in his keynote-lecture that it is not sufficient to have the methods functioning in a gait lab or in an artificial environment. If you want to weigh the precision of the tests in the lab against the usability of the results, the way tests under real conditions hold out, Daumer claims that it is important to find the balance.

The market for portable measuring systems is exploding, almost all body areas can meanwhile be equipped with sensors. He sees big differences between the available sensors. A golden standard has not been defined yet, the question as to where the body sensors should be positioned has not been solved yet. According to Daumer it is important that the devices enable the exact evaluation of parameters in the real world - number of steps, gait speed and -quality, distances and so on - and that they allow a division of activities - e.g. sitting, standing, walking, falling. He regards the development of such a system that the patients can carry home, as a "milestone within research of human motion."