Single-Sensor Postural Stability Assessment: Validation and Applications

Postural stability is an essential component of biomedical assessment, particularly for fall prevention and functional monitoring in older adults. This pilot feasibility study explores whether a single inertial measurement unit (IMU) positioned at the lumbar level can provide preliminary, objective indicators of postural control under controlled testing conditions. Triaxial acceleration and angular data were collected using a low-cost IMU and processed through standard filtering, drift-compensation, and feature-extraction procedures to obtain commonly used sway parameters. Five young adults and one elderly participant were evaluated before and after a two-week balance-training period to examine the system’s sensitivity to training-related changes. The results suggest reductions in sway amplitude, variability, and angular fluctuations across most participants, consistent with expected physiological adaptations. While these findings are exploratory and limited by the small sample size, they indicate that a minimal single-sensor configuration may offer a practical and accessible approach for preliminary balance assessment in clinical and home-based settings. Further validation with larger cohorts and gold-standard reference systems is required.