SmartSocks®COMFORT - Fall prevention and distress management for residential care

SmartSocks®COMFORT is a fall prevention and distress management system. It employs socks which are more comfortable and familiar than a wrist-worn device to track the wearer’s movement, activity and emotional state. The caregiver is alerted when the wearer experiences a sustained change in their mobility or psychological wellbeing.

What are SmartSocks®?

People with dementia often experience communication difficulties and may find it difficult to ask for help. Unmet needs for pain management, stimulation and other kinds of support can escalate into agitation and other behaviours that challenge, such as physical and verbal aggression.

At the same time, normal ageing results in loss of muscle strength and coordination which is exacerbated by periods of illness and inactivity. Frailty causes increasing functional impairment and dependency and greatly increases the risk of falling.

Frailty and behaviours that challenge often occur together. Frail older adults who are agitated and display pacing and wandering behaviours are more likely to fall than those who remain calm. 

Designed to be used in residential and nursing care, SmartSocks®COMFORT has been developed with funding and support from Alzheimer’s Society. The socks measure gait and activity metrics to provide insights into the wearer’s mobility over time, helping predict and prevent falls. Caregivers are also alerted when physiological changes suggest the wearer might be emotionally distressed. The socks detect when a fall has taken place.

Why socks?

Devices worn on the wrist can be irritating and are often fidgeted with and removed leading to loss or damage. Such devices usually have complex touchscreen interfaces which are unsuitable for people with physical, cognitive and sensory impairments. SmartSocks®COMFORT has been designed to be more usable and better tolerated by older adults than a conventional wrist-worn device. The socks fit into an individual’s daily life and do not require significant behaviour change.

Founder and CEO of Milbotix Dr Zeke Steer said “We chose a sock form factor because socks are an everyday item of clothing – comfortable, familiar, and unintrusive for the wearer. The foot is an excellent location for tracking gait, balance and posture which are frequently implicated in falls. Furthermore, the medial arch (of the foot) is a better location for measuring electrodermal activity than the wrist, meaning SmartSocks® can measure physiological arousal more accurately than a wrist-worn device”.

SmartSocks®COMFORT has been evaluated at several care homes in the South of England. Commenting on an evaluation at Chestnut Lodge in Ealing, Care Home Deputy Manager and Clinical Lead Katarzyna Kocol said “I love these ‘magic’ socks. Most of the residents that were wearing them actually have problems such as anxiety, restlessness and aggression. The SmartSocks® picked up these conditions about twice a day. One resident was calmer all the time as he knew he was being monitored. SmartSocks had no negative impact on our daily routine”.

How do SmartSocks® work?

SmartSocks®COMFORT has an embedded sensor in one sock which measures movement and physiological indicators of “fight-or-flight“ through sweat, pulse rate, pulse rate variability, and peripheral skin temperature. Data are transmitted over Wi-Fi to the cloud where algorithms compute gait and activity metrics and an individualised emotional index for the wearer. The emotional index is mapped to a three-tier “level of need” indicating the urgency of the unmet need: low if the individual is not in distress; moderate if the individual has been in distress for five minutes or longer; high if the individual has been distressed for more than 10 minutes.

When the gait and activity metrics show a sustained change, or the person’s level of need is heightened, an alert is sent to the caregiver’s smartphone informing them that additional support or assistance may be required. The sensitivity of the alerts can be adjusted in software to tailor the frequency to the individual.

How do I find out more?

For more information visit www.milbotix.com. SmartSocks®COMFORT is available for pre-order from sales@milbotix.com.