Development of Simple, Objective Chair-Standing Assessment of Physical Function in Older Individuals Using a Kinect™ Sensor

BackgroundWith increasing interest in addressing quality of life of older individuals, tests such as the Functional Independence Measure (FIM) are widely used measures of infirmity and burden of care. However, these scales are largely qualitative and especially problematic when assessing movement-based tasks. While effective, reliable analysis of human movement is technically complicated and expensive; an infrared depth sensor is potentially a low-cost, portable devise which may provide a quantitative aspect to clinical testing.Objectiveto assess the utility of the Kinect™ sensor in providing an objective evaluation of human movement using an oft measured ADL (chair stand).DesignCross-sectional study.SettingCommunity, geriatric day-care center in Japan. Participants: Men (n=136) and women (n=266) between 50 and 93 years of age, consisting of healthy (HE; n=312) and physically frail (FR; n= 90) individuals.MeasurementsSubjects completed two trials of the chair stand, conducted without assistance. Trials were timed and recorded with Kinect™ v2. Coronal plane angle (CPA) was determined by a line transecting the shoulder-center and waist relative to the vertical axis and was used to assess quality of the chair stand movement pattern.ResultsAge, height, and body mass were not different between groups. CPA was significantly greater in FR (29.3 ± 8.3°) than HE (19.5 ± 6.5°). CPA and age were significantly related (r=0.148, p