Why measure posture, motion and activity?

It is important to record accurate and objective information about posture, motion and activity to gain clear insight into the working mechanisms of diseases and the effectiveness of intervention programs. Furthermore it helps in the evaluation and optimization of therapy on an individual or group level guiding therapists and coaches in their interventions. Also, it can be an instrument for treatment and behavioural change programs, facilitating interpretations and understandings of both the care provider and the patient. Therefore, feedback can be given to the patient to improve their understanding of their posture and motion, to provide them with a warning or to signal a reward to the subject.

Importance of being active in daily life

One of the major challenges in today’s society is how to keep our health care system affordable. Key drivers are an aging population, large numbers of overweight people and an overall trend of decreased health and fitness. This results in an increase in people suffering from chronic diseases and a wide range of disorders with impairments on physical activity. Our ability to use our motor skills in daily life defines in a large part our quality of life. The effects of these societal changes are obviously, also clearly visible in medicine. Therefore there is a strong need for new tools that improve the quality of care and at the same time lead to shorter treatment time and/or less medical involvement. One of the ways to accomplish this goal is by introducing protocollized care and objective, measurable, decision criteria. VitaMove is such a tool helping to objectify posture, motion and activity both in a protocolled lab environment and also in daily life.

Why take measurements outside a lab environment?

Not only can VitaMove provide detailed measuring of posture and motion in a lab environment, it also allows measuring to take place over a longer period of time. This is of vital importance as VitaMove provides measurement of a patient’s normal daily physical activity. Research has shown that the posture and motion behaviour that people appear to have in a lab environment does not accurately represent their behaviour in their daily lifestyles. Furthermore it has been proven that what people believe they do does not equal what their normal patterns. For this reason questionnaires often do not provide a subjective or accurate portrayal of patients regular activities. Also what people do in a laboratory does not reflect the daily problems and difficulties they experience. Essentially monitoring a person’s physical activity in a laboratory does not equate to the detail one can detract from monitoring a person’s regular physical activity on a daily basis. VitaMove is a reliable indicator of person’s true motions. VitaMove ambulatory monitoring can provide answers and measurements that would otherwise remain hidden.

How to make a recording?

1. The client wears the recorders for a predefined period
2. The recorders are returned to the researcher or care giver
3. The measurement is downloaded locally and on the spot analysed.
4. Results are reviewed for evaluation and feed-back