Development of an Automated 30 Second Chair Stand Test Using Smartwatch Application

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Engineering
• Gerontology
• Wearable Technology

Background:

• The 30 Second Chair Stand Test (30SCST) is crucial for assessing leg strength, mobility, and fall risk.
• Manual administration of 30SCST can be subjective and labor-intensive.
• Objective, automated methods are needed for widespread and consistent assessment.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate a smartwatch application for automated 30SCST.
• To integrate leg strength assessment with cardiovascular monitoring using wearable technology.
• To provide a tool for both clinical and home-based self-monitoring.

Main Methods:

• Development of a Wear OS application utilizing smartwatch inertial signals to detect and count sit-to-stand repetitions.
• Implementation of synchronized haptic feedback for test initiation/cessation and user response time measurement.
• Integration of heart rate monitoring (baseline, during, and recovery) for cardiovascular fitness assessment.
• Pilot testing on Fossil G4 and Polar M600 smartwatches with 12 participants.

Main Results:

• The application achieved 98.8% accuracy in detecting the number of stand-ups.
• Demonstrated feasibility of synchronizing test notifications with inertial signal acquisition.
• Successfully monitored heart rate changes throughout the test protocol.
• Validated on two distinct smartwatch platforms.

Conclusions:

• The developed smartwatch application effectively automates the 30SCST with high accuracy.
• This technology offers a reliable method for assessing physical function and cardiovascular fitness.
• The application is suitable for automated clinical testing and convenient home self-monitoring.