Biomedical engineering students at Cornell University have created a safer roller walker that will make maintaining an active lifestyle much easier for some seniors, R&D Magazine reports.
The students helped design an electronic braking system for walkers along with an automatic braking system that is triggerd when the user squeezes the hand grips, which can help prevent slips and falls.
The project is 16 years in the making and was the brainchild of a psychiatrist Dr Eli Einbinder, who noticed there were deficiencies with the walkers he saw on an everyday basis.
"I'm sitting in my office looking for another hobby and I start noticing people with walkers - how difficult they are, how not user-friendly," Einbinder told the news source.
This is good news for senior citizens who are looking for a more active lifestyle and is important as the number of retirement-age individuals is expected to increase to around 80 million by the year 2020, the news source said.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there is evidence that regular physical activity can improve the quality of sleep in older adults as well as reduce symptoms of depression.