Improvement of postural control in the frail older adults through foot care: A pre- and post-intervention study.

Frailty in older adults often leads to foot issues, increasing fall-related fracture risk. Mechanoreceptors, the pressure receptors in the foot sole, are pivotal for postural control. Foot problems can impair mechanoreceptor function, compromising balance. This study aimed to examine the effect of foot care on postural control in frail older adults. Forty-eight participants underwent a five-month monthly foot care intervention. Measurements were taken before and after this intervention. Participants stood for 45 s in a static, open-eyed position on a stabilometer. Center-of-pressure (CoP) analysis included total trajectory length, integrated triangle area, rectangular area, and range of motion in anterior-posterior and medio-lateral directions. Results indicated that foot care significantly increased toe ground contact area by 1.3 times and improved anterior-posterior motion control during static standing. Enhanced postural control resulted from improved skin condition due to foot care that intensified mechanoreceptor signal input and improved postural control output. These findings underscore the potential for reducing fracture risks in older adults through proactive foot care. The study highlights the vital role of foot care in enhancing postural control, with broader implications for aging population well-being and safety.

Effect of COVID-19 on the Activity Level of Elderly people with Dementia.

Measures against physical and social frailty after the COVID-19 epidemic in elderly people with dementia are required. However, there are no studies that have systematically examined the level of activity maintained by elderly people with dementia. In this study, we developed an ICT-based steps monitoring system and investigated changes in the number of steps taken by 13 community-dwelling elderly people with dementia from before the COVID-19 epidemic to during the epidemic. Six of the thirteen subjects maintained approximately 7,000 steps, which was the same level as that before the epidemic. However, some subjects showed a significant decrease in their frequency of going out. This system indicated the construction of a health promotion strategy based on quantitative daily step count data for community-dwelling elderly people with dementia.

Analysis of skeletal characteristics of flat feet using three-dimensional foot scanner and digital footprint.

BACKGROUND: Flat feet increase the risk of knee osteoarthritis and contribute to frailty, which may lead to worse life prognoses. The influence of the foot skeletal structure on flat feet is not yet entirely understood. Footprints are often used to evaluate feet. However, footprint-based measurements do not reflect the underlying structures of feet and are easily confounded by soft tissue. Three-dimensional evaluation of the foot shape can reveal the characteristics of flat feet. Therefore, foot shape evaluations have garnered increasing research interest. This study aimed to determine the correlation between the three-dimensional (3D) features of the foot and the measurement results of footprint and to predict the evaluation results of flat feet from the footprint based on the 3D features. Finally, the three-dimensional characteristics of flat feet, which cannot be revealed by footprint, were determined. METHODS: A total of 403 individuals (40-89 years) participated in this study. The proposed system was developed to identify seven skeletal features that were expected to be associated with flat feet. The loads on the soles of the feet were measured in a static standing position and with a digital footprint device. Specifically, two footprint indices were calculated: the Chippaux-Smirak index (CSI) and the Staheli index (SI). In the analysis, comparisons between male and female measurement variables were performed using the Student's t test. The relationships between the 3D foot features and footprint index parameters were determined by employing the Pearson correlation coefficient. Multiple linear regression was utilized to identify 3D foot features that were strongly associated with the CSI and SI. Foot features identified as significant in the multivariate regression analysis were compared based on a one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) with Tukey's post hoc test. RESULTS: The CSI and SI were highly correlated with the instep height (IH) and navicular height (NH) of the 3D foot scanning system and were also derived from multiple regression analysis. In addition to the NH and IH, the indicators of the forefoot, transverse arch width, and transverse arch height were considered. In the flat foot group with CSI values above 62.7%, NH was 13.5% (p < 0.001) for males and 14.9% (p = 0.01) for females, and the axis of the bone distance was 5.3% (p = 0.05) for males and 4.9% (p = 0.10) for females. In particular, for CSI values above 62.7% and NH values below 13%, the axis of the bone distance was large and the foot skeleton was deformed. CONCLUSIONS: Decreased navicular bone height could be evaluated with the 3D foot scanning system even when flat feet were not detected from the footprint. The results indicate that the use of quantitative indices for 3D foot measurements is important when evaluating the flattening of the foot. Trial registration number UMIN000037694. Name of the registry: University Hospital Medical Information Network Registry. Date of registration: August 15, 2019.

Quantification and Visualization of Reliable Hemodynamics Evaluation Based on Non-Contact Arteriovenous Fistula Measurement.

The condition of arteriovenous fistula (AVF) blood flow is typically checked by using auscultation; however, auscultation should require a qualitative judgment dependent on the skills of doctors, and further attention to contact infection is required. For these reasons, this study developed a non-contact and non-invasive medical device to measure the pulse wave of AVFs by applying optical imaging technology. As a first step toward realization of the quantification judgment based on non-contact AVF measurement, we experimentally validated the developed system, whereby the hemodynamics of 168 subjects were visually and quantitatively evaluated based on clinical tests. Based on the evaluation results, the fundamental statistical characteristics of the non-contact measurement, including the average and median values, and distribution of measured signal-to-noise power ratio, were demonstrated. The clinical test results contributed to the future construction of quantified criteria for the AVF condition with the non-contact measurement.

Heat Stroke Prevention in Hot Specific Occupational Environment Enhanced by Supervised Machine Learning with Personalized Vital Signs.

Recently, wet-bulb globe temperature (WBGT) has attracted a lot of attention as a useful index for measuring heat strokes even when core body temperature cannot be available for the prevention. However, because the WBGT is only valid in the vicinity of the WBGT meter, the actual ambient heat could be different even in the same room owing to ventilation, clothes, and body size, especially in hot specific occupational environments. To realize reliable heat stroke prevention in hot working places, we proposed a new personalized vital sign index, which is combined with several types of vital data, including the personalized heat strain temperature (pHST) index based on the temperature/humidity measurement to adjust the WBGT at the individual level. In this study, a wearable device was equipped with the proposed pHST meter, a heart rate monitor, and an accelerometer. Additionally, supervised machine learning based on the proposed personalized vital index was introduced to improve the prevention accuracy. Our developed system with the proposed vital sign index achieved a prevention accuracy of 85.2% in a hot occupational experiment in the summer season, where the true positive rate and true negative rate were 96.3% and 83.7%, respectively.

Foot-surface-structure analysis using a smartphone-based 3D foot scanner.

BACKGROUND: A thorough understanding of the influence of the foot skeletal structure on hallux valgus (HV) is required for HV prevention. We developed a system using a 3D foot scanner on a smartphone to clarify the relationships between foot features and HV risk. METHODS: Two-dimensional video images were recorded on a smartphone, sent to a computer or cloud server, and used to construct a 3D foot-feature model, considering 10 foot features associated with HV. The participants (419 individuals, aged 40-89 years) stood with their toes 12 cm apart and heels 8 cm apart during video recording. The height and weight were measured for body-mass index calculation. RESULTS: Age-dependent foot-feature variations were observed slightly for males and distinctively for females. For females, the great toe-first metatarsal head-heel (GFH) angle associated with HV increased with age, i.e., the GFH angle increased with age, suggesting that HV increased with age. Multiple regression analysis revealed that the features determining the GFH angle are the second toe-heel-navicular angle, bone distance axis, and transverse arch length and height. The adjusted coefficients of determination were 0.54 and 0.52 for males and females, respectively. CONCLUSION: This approach enables simple foot structure assessment for HV risk evaluation.