Analysis of the fall avoidance motion focusing on the angular momentum induced by tripping during gait

Abstract

Fall is one of the greatest causes of nursing care for the elderly. Thus, the reduction of fall injury of the elderly is required. In some previous researches on trip, angular momentum is used as an evaluation parameter. However, the relation between fall avoidance motion and angular momentum is not focused. Thus, in this research, we focus on angular momentum as an index of fall evaluation. To reveal the influence of angular momentum on fall avoidance motion, angular momentum is increased in different ways. One is attaching weights to subject and another is having subjects walk faster and the other is pulling subject from the front. The result suggested that the trend of reaction motion differed among conditions. However, there are some common feature among the reaction motion of these conditions according to the analysis of correlation coefficients