| Sumario: | Purpose This study presents a relatively new method, 'multi-scale entropy' (MSE), to evaluate the center of pressure (COP) data for elderly persons under various conditions. The comparison between MSE and traditional COP stabilogram metrics is also discussed. Method The properties of physiological systems, such as COP data, often exhibit complex fluctuations that are not simply additive noise, but contain valuable information regarding the state of the system1,2. The 'sample entropy' values, normally used in physics, are first calculated, and then the MSE and its corresponding 'complexity index' (CI) are determined and represent the 'complexity' of the COP data. Results & Discussion The results of various studies are shown in Table 1. The conclusions are that the MSE method is effective to differentiate some obvious situations such as young vs. old and healthy vs. illness. There are also some positive results on the use of MSE as an 'improvement' index for the elderly, such as wearing vibration stimulation shoes, wearing shoes that are specifically designed for the elderly, and doing tai-chi exercises. Further study is needed to examine the subtle differences in COP signals and to see if the index can be used as a 'health maintenance' index for the elderly.
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