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Sensors are Capable to Help in the Measurement of the Results of the Timed-Up and Go Test? A Systematic Review

  • Mobile & Wireless Health
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Abstract

The analysis of movements used in physiotherapy areas related to the elderly is becoming increasingly important due to factors such as the increase in the average life expectancy and the rate of elderly people over the whole population. In this systematic review, we try to determine how the inertial sensors embedded in mobile devices are exploited for the measurement of the different parameters involved in the Timed-Up and Go test. The results show the mobile devices equipped with onboard motion sensors can be exploited for these types of studies: the most commonly used sensors are the magnetometer, accelerometer and gyroscope available in consumer off-the-shelf smartphones. Other features typically used to evaluate the Timed-Up and Go test are the time duration, the angular velocity and the number of steps, allowing for the recognition of some diseases as well as the measurement of the subject’s performance during the test execution.

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Acknowledgments

This work is funded by FCT/MEC through national funds and co-funded by FEDER – PT2020 partnership agreement under the project UIDB/EEA/50008/2020 (Este trabalho é financiado pela FCT/MEC através de fundos nacionais e cofinanciado pelo FEDER, no âmbito do Acordo de Parceria PT2020 no âmbito do projeto UIDB/EEA/50008/2020). This work is also funded by National Funds through the FCT - Foundation for Science and Technology, I.P., within the scope of the project UIDB/00742/2020. This article is based upon work from COST Action IC1303–AAPELE–Architectures, Algorithms and Protocols for Enhanced Living Environments and COST Action CA16226–SHELD-ON–Indoor living space improvement: Smart Habitat for the Elderly, supported by COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology). More information in www.cost.eu. Furthermore we would like to thank the Politécnico de Viseu for their support.

Funding

This work is funded by FCT/MEC through national funds and, when applicable, co-funded by the FEDER-PT2020 partnership agreement under the project UIDB/50008/2020. (Este trabalho é financiado pela FCT/MEC através de fundos nacionais e cofinanciado pelo FEDER, no âmbito do Acordo de Parceria PT2020 no âmbito do projeto UIDB/50008/2020).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. R&D Unit in Digital Services, Applications and Content, Polytechnic Institute of Castelo Branco, Castelo Branco, Portugal

    Vasco Ponciano & Fernando Reinaldo Ribeiro

  2. Altranportugal, Lisbon, Portugal

    Vasco Ponciano

  3. Instituto de Telecomunicações, Universidade da Beira Interior, Covilhã, Portugal

    Ivan Miguel Pires

  4. Computer Science Department, Polytechnic Institute of Viseu, Viseu, Portugal

    Ivan Miguel Pires

  5. UICISA:E Research Centre, School of Health, Polytechnic Institute of Viseu, Viseu, Portugal

    Ivan Miguel Pires

  6. Department of Information Engineering, Marche Polytechnic University, Ancona, Italy

    Susanna Spinsante

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  1. Vasco Ponciano
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Correspondence to Vasco Ponciano.

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Ponciano, V., Pires, I.M., Ribeiro, F.R. et al. Sensors are Capable to Help in the Measurement of the Results of the Timed-Up and Go Test? A Systematic Review. J Med Syst 44, 199 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10916-020-01666-8

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