Designing Smart Clothing for Fall Prevention in Older Adults. A brief overview on the current status.

Falls have been estimated by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation as the major cause of death from injury among people over 70 years old in 2017, worldwide. Falls among the elderly is a severe health issue and substantial medical cost. Moreover, people who experienced falls develop fear of falling, a syndrome that leads to decreased mobility, social isolation, depression. In the last three decades, falls have been the theme of concern for numerous researchers and consistent efforts have been made to design systems for fall-related issues. Most of them focus on common topics: to target fall risks through gait and balance analysis; to engage users in physical activity developing exergame and interactive applications; to detect falls and monitor them through wearable devices or home-based systems; to protect users from fall-related injuries spreading signals for prompt assistance. Nevertheless, in this well-supplied framework, limited attention has been given to smart clothing. Being in constant touch with the skin, clothes are part of humans’ routine – supposedly designed to be comfortable as far as people basically forget they are wearing them. That’s why in order to collect body information (physiological data, motion data), research branches on wearable technologies for healthcare are moving towards embedding electronics in textiles – for their ubiquity, and versatility (clothes absorb body radiation, which means they can be also used as self-powered devices). The next frontier for smart clothes is not only to detect, but also react: giving dynamic feedback to specific body stimuli. New generations of wearable devices will represent a substantial input to answer the older-user needs, both in terms of motion assistance and in terms of injuries prevention. This paper seeks to provide a general landscape on the current status of the smart clothes designed to sense and react to the body (giving aid, adjusting postures, protecting from falls-related injuries), and the ones designed to deliver stimulation to the body. It addresses the design specificities of smart suits, footwear, and wearable airbags targeted to the elderly population – eventually, highlighting their potential evolution and contribution in a worldwide ageing scenario.