A personalized exercise trainer for elderly

Abstract

Physical activity provides many physiological benefits. On the one hand it reduces the risk of disease outcomes. On the other hand it is the basis for proper rehabilitation in case of or after a severe disease. Both aspects are especially important for the elderly population. Within this context, the present paper proposes a personalized, home-based exercise trainer for elderly people. The system is based on a wearable sensor network that enables capturing the user's motions. These are then evaluated by comparing them to a prescribed exercise, taking both exercise load and technique into account. Moreover, the results are translated into appropriate feedback to the user to assist the correct exercise execution. A novel part of the system is the generic personalization by means of a supervised teach-in phase. © 2011 ICST.