Fall detection and fall risk detection systems and methods

A body movement monitoring system comprising:

• a data processing system comprising one or more processor circuits configured to process data generated by a sensor, the data including information representative of at least one signal generated by the sensor in response to movement of an upper part of a body of a person, the data processing system programmed to at least:
• process said data to identify one or more peaks in the at least one signal;
• and
• for at least one identified peak of the one or more peaks:
• process said data to identify a non-fall activity performed by the person during at least one of a time period before said identified peak and a time period after said identified peak;
• in response to identifying said non-fall activity, set one or more fall thresholds to values that correspond to said non-fall activity;
• process a portion of the data corresponding to a time window that encompasses said identified peak to compute one or more parameters;
• and
• determine whether to classify said identified peak as a fall event by comparing said one or more parameters to said one or more fall thresholds.

The system of 20 wherein said information derived from the person's movement includes at least one of:

• a number of detected falls;
• a frequency of detected falls;
• a number detected falls that are reported by the person to have been incorrectly identified as falls;
• a frequency of detected falls that are reported by the person to have been incorrectly identified as falls;
• a measure of walking;
• and
• a measure of postural transitions.

A method of detecting falls, the method comprising:

• electronically receiving data generated by a sensor, the data representative of at least one signal generated by the sensor in response to movement of an upper part of a body of a person;
• with a data processing system comprising one or more processor circuits:
• processing said data to identify one or more shock events;
• and
• for at least one identified shock event of the identified shock events:
• processing said data to identify a non-fall activity performed by the person during at least one of a time period before said identified shock event and a time period after said identified shock event;
• in response to identifying said non-fall activity, setting one or more fall thresholds to values that correspond to said non-fall activity;
• processing a portion of the data corresponding to a time window that encompasses said identified shock event to compute one or more parameters;
• and
• determining whether to classify said identified shock event as a fall event by comparing said one or more parameters to said one or more fall thresholds.

A fall risk assessment system comprising:

• a data processing system comprising one or more processor circuits configured to process data generated by a sensor, the sensor comprising an accelerometer, the data including information representative of at least one signal generated by the accelerometer in response to movement of an upper part of a body of a person, the data processing system programmed to at least:
• compute at least one parameter of the following parameters using said data:
• a lateral sway of the person during one or more postural transitions;
• a duration of postural transitions of the person within a pre-determined time period;
• and
• a number of identified postural transitions of the person within a pre-determined time period;
• and the data processing system further programmed to:
• evaluate a risk of falling of the person based on said at least one computed parameter.

A method of evaluating a risk of falling of a person, the method comprising:

• electronically receiving data generated by a sensor, the sensor comprising an accelerometer, the data representative of at least one signal generated by the accelerometer in response to movement of an upper part of a body of a person;
• with a data processing system comprising one or more processor circuits:
• identifying one or more postural transitions of the person during a pre-determined time period;
• analyzing said one or more postural transitions;
• and
• evaluating a risk of falling of the person based on said analyzing.