3D Scan of Elderly Functional Postures Applied to Interior Home Design

Abstract: The percentage of people over 60 years increased from 8.6% in 2000 to 10.8% in 2010 in last Brazilian Population Surveys (IBGE, 2010. In 78 cities of Brazil the elderly citizens already represents 20% of the total population. In this context, fall become a priority concerning and one of the most serious consequences of aging. Fall is being recognized as an important public health problem due to their incidence, health complications and high cost assistance. Research conducted in Brazil and other countries refer that falls are more frequent among institutionalized elderly people and can have multiple causes (Lojudice et al, 2010). A study conducted with elderly in Fortaleza city/Brazil pointed out that the main falling cause (57%) was related to inadequate home environment (Cavalcante, et al, 2012). Among the factors related to domestic environment, the most often cited was the existence of slippery surfaces (33%). The most common consequence of falls was fracture, indicated by 43% of the elderly; radius fracture being the most frequent one (56%). After home accidents, common consequences for elderly people may be increased physical dependency and wide range of psychological troubles due to loss of independence and self-consideration. The main purpose of this study was to scan elderly people on daily activities postures selected according to frequency, difficulty and safety at home situations, in order to create a functional postures database to be applied on interior home design. Those scans will also be used to study new interior layout proposals in order to improve safety at home and avoid hazards workload postures. In the first stage 10 women and 01 man were interviewed and then scanned simulating daily activities selected postures. In a second stage a motion capture study will be conducted. The partial results indicated the adoption of common postures; for example: getting something on the floor, where most of them performed forward trunk bending instead of knee flexion. The importance of this study is to understand how to implement new interior layout design and prevention programs in home institutions aiming to improve elderly population’s quality of life and safety. This pilot study is part of two researches supported by FAPERJ – Rio de Janeiro Research Support Agency.

Keywords: Elderly, Functional posture, Elderly scan, and Home design

DOI: 10.54941/ahfe1001333

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