Hear from a company who has gone through the university R&D funding process

1. PAL Technologies Ltd
Dougie Maxwell
founder & ceo
douglas@paltechnlogies.com

2. Who, why, where, when?
• University spin-out
– Founded in 2001
– Founders Dougie Maxwell, Malcolm Granat
& Nikos Mourselas
– Technology developed in Bioengineering Unit the
founders and exclusively licenced to company
– Traditional focus on measures of (dis)ability, our
desire was to measure participation

3. Origins
Group:
Goal:
PATIENT
ACADEMIC
INDUSTRIALIST
Get Better
Get Famous
Get Rich

4. (old) Model of health
World Health Organization (WHO)
Rehabilitation Outcomes Model
(ICIDH, 1980)
Disease/Condition

Impairment  Disability  Handicap
Model proposes a linear,
left-to-right association

5. (New) Model of health
International Classification of Functioning,
Disability and Health (ICF) Framework (WHO, 2002)
Health condition
(disorder or disease)
Body Structure
& Functions
(Impairment)
Environmental
Factors
Activity
Participation
Personal
Factors

6. Ability or Participation?

7. Background – stroke rehab
GAPS project physical activity monitoring data
inpatient ~1 month post-stroke (n = 41)
Time spent upright (% of waking day)
40%
upright%
standard physio
augmented physio
35%
30%
25%
20%
15%
10%
5%
0%
18 35 15
5
40 12 10 29
4
2
8
24 28
1
13 22 11 3 26 6 27 32 25 30 14 41 36 21
subject's ranked by increasing upright time
9
19 16 39
7
31 38 17 23 33 20 34 37
-5%
The Glasgow Augmented Physiotherapy Study (GAPS) group (2004) Can augmented physiotherapy input enhance recovery of
mobility after stroke? A randomized controlled trial. Clin Rehabil. 2004 Aug;18(5):529-37

9. Ability or participation?
Age = 80
Walking speed = 0.28m/s
Data source: Dr Margaret Grant, Glasgow Caledonian University
Age = 75
Walking speed = 0.14m/s

12. Easily understood outcomes
pensioner
teacher
taxi driver
stroke patient

13. “by jove, the taxi driver
doesn’t do much”

14. Peer to peer

15. Customers

16. Cardiometobolic research
“TV viewing time may have adverse health
consequences that rival those of lack of physical
activity, obesity and smoking; every single hour
of TV viewed may shorten life
by as much as 22 min.”
Veerman JLet al. Br J Sports Med (2011)
doi:10.1136/bjsm.2011.085662

17. Sedentary behaviour modification
• Self monitoring has been demonstrated as
most effective intervention for increasing
physical activity
• What are the options for sedentary behaviour
modification?
– Chair based
– Screen based
– Self monitoring

18. Sitting disease
Increased sendentary time associated with
increased risk of:
• Cardiovascular disease
• Diabetes
• Obesity
• Stroke
• Metabolic syndrome

19. First Step Award
Development of novel metrics for the assessment
of free-living physical behaviour
Dr Jason Gill,
Institute of Cardiovascular and Medical Sciences
University of Glasgow

20. First Steps

21. Behaviour (change)
•Anatomy
•Physiology
•Psychology

22. HAPTIC ENGAGEMENT
• activPAL VT (vibro-tactile)
• Self-monitoring of sedentary bout
duration
• Changing sedentary behaviour
one tickle at a time
• “a PAL in your pants”

23. EuroFIT - sitFIT
SitFIT
To enable self-monitoring of free-living
sedentary behaviour and physical activity.
Cumulative sitting time is given context by
visualising alongside upright time
microUSB
for download of detailed
performance measures and
battery charging
Bluetooth SMART
for connection to BT 4.0 enabled
smartphones and displays and integration
with other software, for example MatchFIT
Sitting time
Cumulative daily total
Upright time
Cumulative daily total
Steps
Cumulative daily total
Sedentary Behaviour Index
The index reflects duration of
sitting bouts, short bouts are
better
Sitting bout timer
Vibro-tactile feedback tells the wearer
how long they have been sitting for

24. EuroFIT – keeping fit at the fitba

25. EuroFIT
http://eurofitfp7.eu/