A study on fall simulation and shock absorption systems for the development of a fracture prevention system

With modern society entering an aging society, revitalizing elderly people's social activities and thus increasing their fall injuries leading to the fracture of various parts of the body, this study sought to examine shock amount generated when elderly people fall in diverse directions and hit the ground in a bid to develop a system aimed at minimizing shocks and preventing bone fractures. Existing studies dealt with young subjects sustaining fall injuries because a more number of elderly people suffer them, compared with young people, making it hard to obtain fall injuries data of elderly people. Thus, in this study, a system enabling a rapid movement and fall induction was used so as to simulate forced falls, and various joint movements during falls were measured using a 3-D human body movement analysis system. Young subjects participated in actual forced fall experiments, due to their safety, and their body movement data were input onto the human body movement simulation program so as to simulate falls, and resulting shock amounts were measured. Dynamic elements occurring during falls in various parts of the body, such as displacement, speed and acceleration, were input into the various parts of the body of elderly people models which were incorporated into the simulation program, and falls were simulated so as to calculate shock amounts generated when elderly people fall and hit the ground. Also, herein proposed was a system designed to reduce fall shock amounts with the aim of preventing bone fractures, using carbon dioxide gas, solenoid valves, air bag systems. This shock reduction system is believed to be used in the bone fracture prevention system that we are keeping researching on.