UNSW biomedical engineer, Associate Professor Matthew A Brodie, opens in a new window has developed a new app, which is helping tens of thousands of individuals combat difficulties in walking. With the help of research fellow and Director of Parkinson’s NSW, Martin Ostrowski, the two have focused their efforts on assisting those suffering from health concerns that impact their ability to walk. These include but are not limited to Parkinson’s disease, diabetes, stroke, heart failure, kidney disease, dementia and sleep issues. The “Walking Tall” app has been translated into multiple languages and made freely available for the worldwide community to use via the App Store, opens in a new window and Google Play, opens in a new window – with the aim of providing some immediate relief for people suffering from gait impairments.

One foot in front of the other

There are more than 320 million people worldwide with treatable motor impairment. These health concerns are issues in their own right, but they can also lead to reduced physical exercise. “We wanted to create technology that could help people walk because insufficient physical exercise is a major risk factor for a number of conditions,” says Associate Professor Brodie.

“This is what’s inspired me to create research that one day could potentially help over 100-million people walk with confidence.”

The Walking Tall app, which initially received trial funding from the Michael J Fox Foundation, and Shake It Up Foundation Australia, opens in a new window, works by delivering a simple metronomic beat across three different walking speeds that have been designed to trigger movement. Further developments were made in partnership with the ARC Research Hub for Connected Sensors for Health (Connected Sensors Hub), and with the software team at UNSW’s Tyree Institute of Health Engineering. With every-day use of the app, individuals can not only learn to walk better but walk for longer, reduce falls and improve overall mobility.

“It’s giving hope to people through something that actually works now – and when we add new elements, it will be even more powerful,” says A/Prof. Brodie.

The full story is available at UNSW Engineering.