Homeostatic System Design Based on Understanding the Living Environmental Determinants of Falls
Mikiko Oono, Ayano Nomura, Koji Kitamura, Yoshifumi Nishida, Shunsaburo Nakahara, Hisashi Kawai · 2023
Falls among older adults are a serious global challenge. The World Health Organization strongly recommends gait, balance, and functional training, Tai Chi, or home assessment and modification to prevent falls among older people, but these strategies have not changed over the past few decades. The purpose of the present study is to propose an innovative approach to fall prevention naturally embedded in the environment. We first suggest new methods for simplifying and understanding the relationship between falls and everyday life, and describe this relationship as a knowledge graph using emergency transport data on falls among the aged. As a result of a cluster analysis using knowledge graphs, we identified whole-body balance as a key factor and living environmental determinant of falls. We then propose the concept of a homeostatic spatial system and discuss our development of seven homeostatic products as a proof of concept. Finally, we develop an evaluation system to visualize specific locations in a defined area where people maintain whole-body balance using their hands or other body parts. Our findings confirm that the system is useful for evaluating how people change their behaviors to maintain whole-body balance based on homeostatic products and the living environment as a whole.