Balance augmentation in walking using electrical muscle stimulation – e-WALKING

Falls in the elderly pose a major health, social and economic problem. These falls occur mostly during activities of daily living, and mostly during walking. In this context, the e-WALKING project aims at proposing a new approach to improve the balance performance of elderly people during walking, in order to prevent falls. This approach consists in developing a new assistive technology capable of reinforcing the propulsion function of the ankle via electrical muscle stimulation. This technology will be evaluated in elderly people in order to establish the proof of concept in terms of effectiveness and acceptability. To be successfully implemented, this project will rely on a team of researchers specialized in biomechanics, motor control, musculoskeletal modeling, electrophysiology, engineering and gerontology.