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Poster Short Abstract

We are releasing a mobile app that allows users to independently assess their physical functioning using video-based pose estimation. It provides an accessible way to monitor physical functioning over time and supports individualized physical activity counselling and rehabilitation monitoring.

Poster Abstract

The decline in physical functioning with age, together with the well-documented global rise in physical inactivity in recent decades, calls for new approaches to monitoring physical functioning and promoting physical activity in aging populations. Mobile applications offer a unique opportunity to deliver easily accessible physical functioning tests for both large populations and clinical use, while simultaneously facilitating data collection for research purposes. However, this approach remains underutilized to date.

We are releasing a freely available mobile application, in which users can independently test different aspects of their physical functioning, such as lower extremity power, balance, and range of motion. The application is based on a pose estimation algorithm that detects key body landmarks from the mobile phone camera feed. Joint angles and repetition times are estimated in real time using custom algorithms, which have been previously validated against measures derived manually by a physiotherapist. The prototype of the application has also been tested with hospital patients to assess the feasibility of its unsupervised use.

This application will provide citizens with an accessible way to gain insight into their physical functioning and monitor its longitudinal changes. The resulting information can serve as a tool for individualized physical activity counselling and for tracking rehabilitation progress by health-care providers and fitness professionals. In addition, the data collected through the application will generate novel evidence to support further research on the promotion of physical functioning and physical activity.