Stancemonitoring

Stancemonitoring is the systematic observation, measurement, and analysis of an individual's stance and balance characteristics to assess stability, posture, and load distribution. It combines sensor data, computational methods, and reporting to support clinical, athletic, and industrial decision making.

Common data sources include force platforms, pressure-sensing insoles, inertial measurement units, and video-based pose estimation. Data are processed through filtering and sensor fusion to estimate metrics such as center of pressure, center of mass projection, and postural sway. Standard metrics include sway path length, sway area, mean sway velocity, and stability indices; assessments may consider limits of stability and the range of postural control. When used in real time, stancemonitoring can provide feedback to guide balance training or hazard avoidance.

Applications span clinical, sports, ergonomics, and robotics domains. In clinical settings, stancemonitoring supports evaluation of balance disorders, monitoring rehabilitation after stroke or orthopedic injury, and assessing fall risk in older adults. In sports science, it aids fatigue monitoring, performance optimization, and injury prevention. In workplace safety, it helps mitigate slip-and-fall risks, and in robotics, it informs control and calibration of bipedal or exoskeleton systems.

Challenges include variability across individuals and tasks, sensor calibration, differing devices and protocols, data privacy concerns, and the cost and maintenance of monitoring systems. Interpreting context-specific metrics also requires domain expertise. The field is evolving with advances in wearable sensors, real-time analytics, and machine learning, enabling more accurate, personalized baselines and remote monitoring.