Exploratory Analysis of Motion Tracking Data in the Rehabilitation Process of Geriatric Trauma Patients.

BACKGROUND: This article is based on an ongoing long-term study, in which customary motion trackers measure steps during rehabilitation of geriatric trauma patients (Med=86 years). OBJECTIVES: Exploring steps after 28 days of measurement. Finding similarities in the data by running cluster analysis and formulating linear regressions models to predict steps through time. METHODS: Two types of motion trackers (FitBitAlta HR and Garmin vivofit 3) have been used to measure patients' (N=24) steps after hip fracture in two study groups. Cluster analysis detected three clusters for progress in number of steps that were tested for group differences with ANOVA. Regression analysis tested models for individual patients. RESULTS: Three-cluster solutions showed significant differences for the average amount of steps after 5, 14, 21 and 28 days. Regression models could predict 71 % of the individual patients' progress in study group 2. CONCLUSION: The long-term study will provide more data in the future to examine the three-cluster solution and to find out in what stage of rehabilitation the measurement of the steps could be used to predict individual rehabilitation.