Osteoporosis is a condition characterized by a decrease in the density of bone, decreasing its strength and resulting in fragile bones. Worldwide, one in three women and one in five men over age 50 will experience osteoporotic fractures. The most common fractures associated with osteoporosis occur at the hip, spine, and wrist. The preliminary research was conducted in areas such as understanding osteoporosis as a disease, common types of fractures due to osteoporosis, risk, and causes of osteoporosis and types of devices required during healing and post-healing phases. Further, few interviews were conducted among orthopedic doctors and osteoporosis patients who are in their post-healing phase to understand the needs and problems during osteoporosis. Since many falls do not result in injuries, yet non-injured seniors who fall cannot get up without assistance. Also, according to the study, there is a great scope of improvements in the elderly assistive devices market.
This project will focus on designing a smart assistive walker for elderly osteoporosis patients to predict, prevent and aid the risk of falls during their post- healing phase. Few concepts were developed through exploration in ideas. The final design was selected after prototyping, refining and testing the concepts.