What we're thinking is if we can train up the ability to recover from a trip and a slip in the lab,
it's going to generalise to the real world.
So, if Helen suffers a trip and a slip outside on the footpath,
she'll be able to recover and not fall.
OK.
I always thought that
things like balance and tripping had to do with your inner ear.
Yeah, well, it's a lot more.
It's a lot more than that.
Just let me know if it’s too tight.
The inner ear is crucial for our sense of the upright.
We also use sensory information from the ankles and the legs.
We also use our vision, of course, for a sense of perspective in the upright.
Then we need our muscle strength.
We need to be able to react quickly.
We need to be stable over our center of mass as well.
It's multifactorial.
And how are you feeling about this, Helen?
(CHUCKLES)
Very, very scared. I'm going to fall down.
No. No, you're OK.
She won't fall down though, will she? She’ll be in a harness...
I would. Yes.
He told me already.
(LAUGHS)
So, we just put some electrodes on the muscles in the legs of Helen.
We will be able to see how these muscles are activated
during the trip responses.
We'll put about 40 markers on Helen's body,
and those marker will be captured by the infrared cameras.
This is it. Ready to go into battle.
(LAUGHS)
Helen will be walking along a booby-trapped walkway
made up of special tiles that simulate a trip hazard.
These hazards are randomly placed and triggered by a technician.
OK. So, stepping on the tiles with the beat of the metronome.
OK, whenever you're ready, you can start
Ooh! (GROANS)
All right.
Well done. It's all right. Don't worry. Gosh.
Are you OK?
It's a bit scary, isn't it?
Yes. Yeah.
I know, 'cause you've had a few falls,
and I imagine that would be very frightening.
It’s all right. No, no, no.
I didn't feel anything.
I just feel a bit... scared.
Yeah, yeah. Frightening is right.
Looking at the analysis of Helen's fall,
it highlights what she needs to work on.
So, this is the stick figure of Helen walking and she's going to be tripped.
Yeah.
So, here...
And there it is. Yes.
Her left foot is tripped.
Oh, you can see it sort of curls around.
Yeah.
And you can see her body just falling.
She's falling.
So, she didn't have any protective stepping response.
Nah.
So, she's just falling down.
Yeah, that's...
That would have been a devastating fall. Yes.
Without the harness, she would have fallen to the ground.
NeuRA have found that just 20 runs of this course
over a single day can reduce falls by up to 50 per cent.
Ooh, ah!
Oh, she's still going. (LAUGHS)
Nobody has done that before.
In my head, I'm going to fall.
(BREATHES HEAVILY)
But you did great. You really did.
You're doing amazing. No, I'm glad I have the harness.
Yeah, really proud of you.
After some instruction, Helen's learning to lift her foot
to prevent herself from falling.
Kick and lift. Kick and lift.
Ooh! Very good.
Well done.
You didn't fall at all, Helen.
Very good.
Yeah, well done, Helen. (APPLAUSE)
Thank you. (LAUGHS)
Did you learn the lifting response? Yes.
Now your foot moves a lot quicker now.
Yes. Yeah.
Yeah, I didn't fall down.
Yeah, definitely. Good.
Very good.
We're breaking the response pattern down.
So, we’ve... Bit by bit,
she practices the correct recovery - raising her foot and over.
Ooh! Oh, there you go.
You didn't fall.
She was much better at being able to withstand the hazards.
I expected that.
Yeah. But I still make noise.
You did really well with that.
Thank you. (APPLAUSE)
Dramatic difference.
Yeah, a huge improvement.
I'm pleased with myself.
That was amazing. Don't forget, I'm 78.
Yeah.
And in case there was any doubt, we can check the analysis.
There she tripped and this perturbed food went up.
OK, so that...
It did, didn't it? Yes. So, that's excellent.
So, she could take this first recovery step really well.
Because of that, her body could be kept upright.
But she didn't have that at the start of today.
Yeah.
So, she's changed subconsciously. Yes.
How she moves her body because of the training.
Yeah.
So, her body now knows how to best respond to trips and slips.
Mmm. It's amazing.
This could help so many people.