Towards the Use of Instrumented Tests for Screening the Risk of Falling in Patients With Chronic Illness.

In patients with chronic illness, screening for falls and their health consequences are major public health issues. Muscle weakness, gait and balance disorders are among the most common risk factors for falling. Assessing these parameters would thus be a crucial step in the evaluation of the risk of falling, allowing to more precisely orient the management strategy. Combining inertial unit sensors with clinically validated tests can provide additional information to improve the assessment of fall risks. We therefore propose to constitute a monocentric exploratory study, testing a prognostic screening tool, in patients suffering from a chronic pathology, in order to assess the risk of falling in this population. Considering the relationship between muscle weakness and the risk of falling, we can assume that a deficit in muscle strength will result in less vertical acceleration which could point to a muscle cause of the balance disorder and thus allow a finer detection of the risk of falling. On the other hand, we hypothesize that spinal static disorders in chronic pathologies and in particular osteoarthritis, as well as balance disorders linked to impaired deep sensitivity lead to an increase in oscillations of the trunk when walking which can cause postural balance disorders thus increasing the risk of falling.