Elderly mobility analysis during Timed Up and Go test using biosignals

Abstract

With increasing life expectancy and a higher demand for quality of life it becomes more important to implement control tests for evaluate the mobility in the elderly people. The main objective of this work lies in the elderly mobility assessment through the acquisition of electromyography, and accelerometer signals while they perform the Timed Up and Go test. In this study participated 20 elderlies: 7 males and 13 females aged between 65 and 94 years. The study evaluated the biosignals electromyography in muscles rectus femoris, biceps femoris, rectus abdominis and lumbar iliocostalis. The triaxial accelerometer was placed on the head to measure the acceleration of the movement of the head while the elderly performs the Timed Up and Go test. With this work we confirm, as expected, a weak mobility among the participants, some being evaluated with very low disability and only a small part with reduced mobility. Finally, it's essential to pay more efforts to create and improve forecasting strategies to prevent and/or identify mobility changes in the elderly.