Project Grant R01HD114776

The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) awarded a $666,688 Project Grant under the Child Health and Human Development Extramural Research program (CFDA 93.865) to the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago (doing business as Shirley Ryan AbilityLab) to develop a fall screening protocol for lower limb prosthetic users. The project aims to evaluate gait and kinematic analysis from markerless motion capture as predictors of fall risk, and compare their accuracy to traditional clinical assessments. The research will collect data from 150 lower limb prosthetic users over a 1-year period to determine the gait parameters or clinical assessments that best predict future fall risk. The project also involves using wearable sensors to gather kinematic data on fall type, directionality, and circumstances to develop a model for incident risk based on fall type. The goal is to produce a translatable approach for screening at-risk lower limb prosthetic users and identify biomechanical risk factors for specific fall types. Northwestern University is a sub-awardee providing subject matter expertise on prosthetic gait biomechanics and falls research.