Sensoria Health, in collaboration with Padula Rehabilitation Technologies (PRT), announced the launch of NeurOpTrek powered by Sensoria – an innovative new wearable system designed to improve vision and help reduce the risk of falls, a serious health concern especially for older adults.
How does it work?
The development of NeurOpTrek comes in the wake of Sensoria Health and PRT winning a prize last October during the inaugural Bright Ideas Pitch Competition in San Diego. The competition was held by the American Academy of Optometry Foundation, which acknowledges the role that vision plays in fall prevention. NeurOpTrek is a pioneering solution to assess and quantify center of mass dynamically and improve balance, gait, and coordination, reducing the risk of falls by helping a clinician to select the most appropriate yoked prism lenses.
Distinguishing this new wearable solution for optometry practices is a comprehensive package, anchored onto the Sensoria smart socks, instrumented with textile pressure sensors and microelectronics to provide real-time gait and balance data. The smart socks are paired with a dedicated Android tablet with proprietary NeurOpTrek algorithms and software, along with technical and clinical training and ongoing support. State-of-the-art artificial intelligence driven algorithms will provide automatic detection and monitoring of specific center of mass and gait phases, combined with real-time foot landing and pressure measurements, a unique data combination which can help estimate the deviance between the center of pressure (COP) and center of mass, allowing for the patient’s vision to be assessed and corrected by the clinician in a more accurate way.
Sensoria and PRT are now accepting applications from ten innovative Neuro-Optometric Rehabilitation Optometrists for the NeurOpTrek Early Adopter Program.
On the record
“NeurOpTrek offers an evidence-based way for optometrists to help patients who have issues with posture, balance, and potential fall risk. Based on latest research, it’s an innovative system for optometrists to evaluate the relationship between a patient’s vision and the proprioceptive base of support in order to improve gait and balance.” Said Dr. William V. Padula, a leading optometrist and vision rehabilitation specialist who serves as founder of Padula Rehabilitation Technologies.
“We are excited to offer optometrists an easy to use, innovative and self-contained system for assessing patients’ need for yoked prism lenses, to improve eye tracking and train the brain to better process visual information. With millions of older adults suffering from falls, patients recovering from traumatic brain injuries, and people engaged in athletic activities, the new NeurOpTrek system provides a groundbreaking way to contribute to address this challenging problem.” stated Davide Viganò, Co-founder & CEO of Sensoria Health.
The context
According to the CDC, 28% of adults aged 65 and older report a fall each year. Incorrect body weight shifting is a frequent cause of falls, and a three-year study effectively showed that vision can be essential in controlling the center of body mass during walking. Optometrists need a tool that is backed by science to assess a patient’s risk of falling. NeurOpTrek offers a solution to lower that risk for many.