Sensing mobility and 4Mvideo E-sport for motivating physical activity forrehabilitation and preventive exercise purpose

During hospitalisation, physical inactivity is largely accepted, and the focus is on treating the medical disease. It has been demonstrated that older hospitalized patients spend as much as 17-20 hours in bed per day. This is unfortunate, since prolonged bed rest can have negative consequences, in terms of reduced ability to perform activities of daily living (ADL), including the ability to be independent in transferring, walking, dressing and toileting - fundamental activities that greatly impact quality of life. Also, a strong association between low physical activity during hospitalization and increased risk of death in old patients hospitalised for medical disease after discharge has been observed The decrease in functional capacity and physical activity can be attributed to loss of muscle tissue. Immobilisation for less than 14 days has been seen to reduce muscle mass with 5-9 percent in otherwise healthy individuals. Both in young and older adults the muscle atrophy can imply a number of health complications and in old patients hospitalised for medical disease the loss of muscle mass leads to delayed regain of physical function. Thus, prolonged bed rest or inactivity associated with hospitalisation poses a potent threat to functional capacity and independency in the elderly. There is no existing medication that prevents the detrimental effects of inactivity. Therefore, physical activities and exercises should be a more integrated part of the hospital intervention and should receive more attention from the multidisciplinary staff. We therefore propose this study that aims to assess the effect of an enhanced physical activity measuring system with visual feedback about the patient’s activity level on the amount of physical activity during hospitalisation in combination with intervention to nudge the healthcare staff according to the most inactive patients in hospital and the following 3 months after discharge.

Physical training is instrumental in hospital outpatient rehabilitation, and daily exercise alleviates the risk of high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity etc., increasing the chance of a longer life with a higher quality of life. However, daily training and exercise can be difficult to realize for the elderly who are often associated with a physically inactive lifestyle. Professional care organizations need solutions for physical interventions that can be used effectively by elderly patients at home. Family, friends and other informal career need systems that support social aspects enabling them to participate and motivate their loved ones in rehabilitation efforts and in adapting and maintaining a physically active lifestyle. The elderly citizen needs an affordable and attractive training system that motivates to daily training – often at home, sometimes in a training center – privately, or socially engaged in groups or communities, as needed. The purpose of the Sens4ME project is to provide an ICT based system to advise, motivate and increase options for elderly citizens, for rehabilitation and daily exercise. Improving the health care outcome in the continuity of care between professional care organizations, such as hospitals and physiotherapist clinics, and home.