Reality instead of lab conditions - Basic results

 

Basic results

The scientists from the Human Motion Project specifically wanted to get meaningful results, relevant also from the patients' view, and so Dr. Jörg Goldhahn, Zurich, in his keynote and Dr. Reto W. Kressig, Basel and Dr. Eling de Bruin, Zurich, inquired what is known about measures, usually used when measuring mobility, like steps or gait speed, according to the newest scientific findings. On the one hand the tight connection between step length, tread frequency and walking speed was presented. On the other hand the walking speed can be a meaningful "vital sign", since it is easy to measure, clinically interpretable and potentially modifiable.

Falls were also focused, to which Jochen Klenk, Ulm, compiled the results. Especially because there are hardly any falls that did not occur under lab conditions and that are scientifically documented, the researchers see the chance to monitor patients at risk of falling over a longer period of time in their natural environment and thus to obtain significant data with "actibelt".