A computer vision based candidate for functional balance test.

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Engineering
• Motor Control and Biomechanics
• Computer Vision Applications

Background:

• Human balance is a critical motor skill affected by aging, disease, and injury, leading to significant healthcare costs due to falls.
• Current clinical tools for balance assessment include subjective measures and objective systems, but there is a need for faster, more discriminative methods.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose and evaluate a novel computer vision (CV)-based approach for functional balance assessment.
• To determine if the CV system can provide objective, repeatable, and highly discriminative balance quantification.

Main Methods:

• A brief review of balance impairments and current assessment tools was conducted.
• A new CV-based functional balance test was developed and administered to 10 healthy volunteers.
• Performance was compared against the BTrackS Balance Assessment Board.

Main Results:

• The CV-based system demonstrated a high degree of correlation with the BTrackS Balance Assessment Board.
• The proposed test is quick (under one minute) and shows potential for objective and repeatable balance measurement.

Conclusions:

• The CV-based system is a promising candidate for objective functional balance testing in various clinical settings.
• Further investigation is warranted to validate the system's efficacy in acute care, long-term care, and assisted living facilities.
• Long-term goals include developing non-intrusive methods for assessing balance during activities of daily living (ADL).