Recently, the “Application and walking test device for cardiovascular endurance evaluation“ by Nattawut Mekritthikrai, a graduate student fom the Department of Physical Therapy, Faculty of Allied Health Sciences, Thammasat University received the Gold Prize from the Seoul International Invention Fair 2022 (SIFF 2022) at Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Nattawut Mekritthikrai, Master’s degree student from the Department of Physical Therapy, Faculty of Allied Health Sciences, Thammasat University mentioned about the idea of this innovation that derived from the spread of Covid-19 which has resulted in increasing health problems, like the ability to conduct physical activities, respiratory and cardiovascular endurance were assessed by 6-minute walk, or 6MWT, as well as follow-up in patient groups such as heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, neurological diseases in the elderly and the general public to assess primary physical fitness.
However, there are often problems with using different equipment both before, during and after the test, and the assessment is still inconsistent, therefore we designed and built a walking test device by developing a sensor device that works with application used to assess activity capacity and cardiovascular endurance.
Nattawut went on to say that the Application and walking test device for cardiovascular endurance evaluation is a sensor device that can measure the cardiovascular endurance with less discrepancy and high accuracy compared to standard measurement by walking for 6 minutes. It is also portable, easy to use, connected using wireless method, compatible with mobile phones or tablet with the Android operating system by collecting data in an online format and can view past statistical data for immediate analysis.
Equipment consists of 1. Wrist or ankle strap with a motion sensor which then compares with that of the gravitational force of the earth and provides measurement data as an angle or inclination angle relative to the plane of the earth. 2. Microcontroller circuit with a data processing unit inside. 3. Bluetooth wireless communication module circuit which sends data from the microcontroller to the application on Android devices. Preliminary information can be filled with other features that allow users to set walking distance, be informed of the remaining time, and see display on the screen the walkable distance.
In the part of the walking test application, Android 4.3 or higher is required. Data of volunteers can be recorded, such as name, gender, age, weight, height, vital signs and fatigue level, the distance that can achieve in 6-minute walk. After 6 minutes of walking, the assessee will be evaluated on their ability to perform formal activities as well as the level of their cardiovascular endurance.
The Application and walking test device for cardiovascular endurance evaluation received funding by the High Quality Graduate Research Program in Science and Technology, Thammasat University and the National Science and Technology Development Agency (NSTDA) 2/2021, presented at the 2022 The Joint symposium between the International Cooperation Network, Faculty of Allied Health Sciences, Thammasat University, Catholic University of Korea, South Korea, and National Defense Medical Center, Taiwan and Oral presentation – proceedings, Thailand Research Expo 2022.
