Researchers at the University of Arizona (UA), Tucson, are partnering with BioSensics, Cambridge, Massachusetts, to design interactive sensor technology that alerts patients when they neglect to wear their prescribed footwear and thereby increase adherence. They said their ultimate goal is to create a simple, inexpensive device that people with diabetes can use to increase adherence to footwear, such as a removable cast walker, that’s often prescribed for 12 weeks or more and is crucial to prevent or heal diabetes-related foot ulcers.
Photograph courtesy of the University of Arizona.
“People sometimes don’t realize how important it is to wear [the prescribed footwear],” said Bijan Najafi, PhD, associate professor of surgery in the UA department of surgery Southern Arizona Limb Salvage Alliance (SALSA) and director of the Interdisciplinary Consortium on Advanced Motion Performance. “Maybe they think they are walking just a few steps around the home, and they don’t need it. [But] this simple solution can prevent foot amputation,” Najafi said of the technology.
The prototype is a wireless sensor, housed in a small black box, that is worn inside the removable cast walker, and measures the cast activity. Study participants will wear a “smart textiles” shirt that uses sensors to measure a person’s activity and a watch that will buzz to remind the user when he or she is not wearing the walker. Data from the shirt and the sensor will evaluate whether the patient is wearing the footwear as prescribed.
The sensor technology that will be used in the year-long first phase of the study is funded through a $400,000 National Institutes of Health Small Business Innovation Research grant. Fifteen patients from UA’s SALSA clinic will wear the sensor and receive an alarm if they are not wearing the removable cast walker. Another 15 patients will wear the sensor and receive an informational DVD to watch on the importance of adhering to the prescribed footwear. Researchers will determine which method has a greater impact on adherence.v
David G. Armstrong, DPM, MD, PhD, professor of surgery and SALSA director, and Najafi said they believe the technology could have applications beyond foot ulcers, such as other internal or external medical and therapeutic devices.
Editor’s note: This story was adapted from materials provided by the University of Arizona.
