Sock is step ahead for those at risk of falls

A SOCK that can tell when a person is likely to take a fall has been created by scientists and is 94 per cent accurate.

Experts in electronic textiles at Nottingham Trent University created a bespoke motion sensor and put it inside a protective covering that creates a custom smart-sock.

Worn by 13 people as part of a study the scientists found that the technology was able to tell when someone fell over with 99.4 per cent accuracy and was also able to detect near-falls 94.2 per cent of the time.

A near-fall is a stumble or jolt in which a person does not fully tumble over but nearly did and studies have shown people who are having near-falls are more likely to go on to suffer a proper fall.

“Falls can be devastating to the quality of life of older people,” said Dr Theodore Hughes-riley, an associate professor in electronic textiles at the Nottingham School of Art & Design who helped create the product.

“And with a rise in the ageing population, falls will only continue to have a significant impact on older people, causing loss of confidence and increased frailty.

“Only an estimated third of older people return to independent living following a hip fracture, for instance, which is a common injury to occur after a fall.

“So being able to detect near-falls will allow older people and their carers to take action before a potentially lifechanging fall happens.”

The device is a small sensor embedded into an over-sock that goes on a person’s foot. Bluetooth technology connects the sensor to a phone or another device and an algorithm processes the data in real-time.

If it detects the wearer is in trouble then it could alert healthcare professionals or family members to the person’s plight.

The wearable technology is so far only at prototype stage but could be used in care homes or for elderly and frail people living alone in the future.

Dr Hughes-riley explained: “The sock will communicate with a phone using Bluetooth in the future. The mobile phone will run software that will analyse the motion of the sock and communicate any abnormalities, either a fall or near-fall, to a medical professional or carer. If the person has fallen this would have to be communicated quickly as the older person may have injured themselves while falling.

“We plan to collaborate with relevant specialists in this area to work out the most effective way of sharing this information. We anticipate that this further development will take an additional two years.”

SIR – Matthew Lynn (Comment, March 16) is spot on in his analysis of the heat pump fiasco. It is a perfect example of this Government’s half-baked policymaking.

Where is all the electricity going to come from (not just to power the heat pumps, but also the electric cars we are going to be forced to buy)?

The Government has shown support for small modular reactors, a sensible solution. But even on this it is dithering, opening up a competition to build them (report, March 16) when Rolls-royce is ready to go.

Alan Frobisher

Ely, Cambridgeshire

SIR – Some years ago, in the United States, we lived in a new-build house with an air-source heat pump.

It was the most dreadful method of heating a home we have ever experienced, failing to heat the property to a comfortable level in a reasonable time frame. We had to install a wood-burning stove to compensate. The outside unit was unsightly and noisy, and the ducting at floor level simply created draughts.

How anyone can think that these devices are the future is beyond me. William Sykes

Malmesbury, Wiltshire

SIR – My experience of air-source heat pumps is that they work fine in relatively warm weather, but in temperatures below 5C they don’t provide any worthwhile heat.

So effectively in the winter, when you need heat most, they are useless. Graham Mitchell

Haslemere, Surrey

SIR – As demonstrated in your article (“Fitting a heat pump has been an expensive waste of time”, telegraph.co. uk, March 12), there is a pressing need for more skilled workers to retrofit Britain’s historic buildings.

A report published last week by Historic England, Grosvenor, Peabody, the Crown Estate and the National

Trust highlights that this country has only half the skilled workers necessary to take on this task.

We need more than 105,000 new workers, including plumbers and electricians, to work solely on decarbonising our historic buildings for the next three decades in order to meet our 2050 net zero target. This is both a challenge and an opportunity to boost economic output and create jobs, while also future-proofing our precious heritage.

Ian Morrison

Director of Policy and Evidence, Historic England

London EC4