SMART shoes have been created to stop the elderly and infirm suffering potentially deadly falls.
Unobtrusive sensors have been fitted to everyday footwear to build up a precise picture of their movements.
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The data collected can be used to work out who is most likely to take a tumble on the stairs.
Such accidents kill more than 700 people every year and put 43,000 people in hospital.
The technology is being trialled in three test houses by biomechanists at Liverpool John Moores University.
They hope to test it further in people’s real homes.
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The smart shoes focus on two crucial measurements — the distance from the toe to the edge of the step, and the area of foot planted safely on the top of the step.
Costis Maganaris, professor of musculoskeletal biomechanics in the uni’s School of Exercise and Sport Science, told journal Sensors: “The endgame is a product which would be able to judge an individual’s risk factor and warn them.
“The ‘smart shoe’ can provide us with very similar data to that using motion-capture in the gait lab.
“But it can also give us the capacity to remotely harvest data which can advance a prototype measuring tool to predict stair falls.
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“Generally, we can avoid falls on the flat by improving strength and balance.
“Stairs are a different beast.”
