SmartSocks®COMFORT
Distress monitoring and mobility assessment for health and social care
SmartSocks®COMFORT is a fall prevention and wellbeing management solution using sensorised (smart) socks. It allows caregivers to track residents’ mobility, activity and calmness over time, optionally alerting when residents experience a sustained decrease in their physical or psychological wellbeing.
People living in care homes and nursing homes often find it difficult to effectively express their needs to caregivers. Frustration with unmet needs may “boil over” into behaviours which are challenging, even escalating into physical and verbal aggression. Care home residents are also more likely to experience frailty, where ageing, illness and inactivity contribute to muscle weakness, fatigue and poor coordination.
The combination of agitation and frailty often reinforces their individual effects. For example, frail older adults who are agitated and display pacing and wandering behaviours are more likely to fall than those who remain calm. Similarly, care home residents experiencing frailty due to old age or illness are more likely to become frustrated with limitations on their physical abilities.
SmartSocks®COMFORT has been developed to alert caregivers when physical activity and physiological changes suggest the wearer is emotionally distressed. These alerts help caregivers identify when has a person has unmet needs so support can be
targeted. Caregivers can also monitor SmartSocks’ proprietary calmness, mobility, and activity scores to track the wearer’s physical and mental wellbeing over time. SmartSocks® detect when a fall has taken place.
Why socks?
Devices worn on the wrist can be irritating for the wearer and are often fidgeted with and removed by care home residents. SmartSocks®COMFORT has been designed to be more useable and better tolerated than a conventional wrist-worn device, such as a smartwatch. The socks fit seamlessly into the person’s daily life and do not require significant behaviour change. Data collection happens automatically whenever the socks are worn, avoiding complex and fiddly touchscreen interfaces which are difficult to operate and add to caregivers’ workload.
How they work
SmartSocks®COMFORT has an embedded sensor in one sock which measures the wearer’s movement and captures physiological data. This includes indicators of a “fight-or-flight” response, such as electrodermal activity (sweat), pulse rate, pulse rate variability, respiratory rate, and skin temperature. Algorithms running in the cloud compute gait, activity, and stress metrics on the sock data which are translated into easily interpretable mobility, activity and calmness scores.
The metrics and scores are displayed with care notes in the SmartSocks®COMFORT web application and smartphone app, allowing caregivers to identify changes and track trends.
When the wearer’s mobility, activity or calmness index shows a sustained decrease, an alert can be sent to the caregiver’s smartphone prompting them to provide additional monitoring or support. The sensitivity of the alerts is adjustable in software.
You should purchase SmartSocks®COMFORT if:
- You have identified falls prevention as a priority in your service.
- You would benefit from having access to objective data from residents to inform care planning.
- Residents in your service have unmanaged distress and behaviours that challenge which is making care more difficult.
- You wish to evidence the highest level of care for your residents to the CQC and/or demonstrate compliance with guidelines or regulations.
An early prototype of SmartSocks®COMFORT has been evaluated at several care homes in the South of England. Commenting on an evaluation at Chestnut Lodge in Ealing, Care Home Deputy Manager and Clinical Lead Katarzyna Kocol said:
Reflecting on an early SmartSocks®COMFORT pilot at Maryville Care Home in Brentford, Home Manager Kathleen Liang said:What’s in the box?
SmartSocks®COMFORT includes:
- 1 SmartSocks® Sensor — the removable sensor that captures the wearer’s data, interchangeable between sock pairs
- 1 SmartSocks® Charger — charges the Sensor via USB-C
- 3 pairs of SmartSocks® — replacement pairs sold separately
- 1 SmartSocks® Gateway — connects the Sensor to the internet so data reaches the app, with built-in location tracking. Powered over USB, with a 24-hour battery life (extendable using a power bank)
- Cables and ancillaries
Interoperability
SmartSocks® COMFORT is designed to be integrated with existing digital infrastructure and workflows to the highest levels of reliability and security.
- Application programming interface (API) for integration with 3rd-party systems
- Cyber Essentials accreditation
- Data hosted in the UK on Amazon Web Services (AWS) servers
- Penetration tested to OWASP Top 10
- Milbotix is further working towards DTAC compliance (DCB0129)
Comfort and safety
- Feels and fits like an ordinary sock — soft, stretchy, and comfortable to wear all day
- The sensor is hidden safely inside the sock and locked in place
- Fully washable at 40°C, so it fits straight into your existing laundry routine
- Padded soles and flat seams for extra comfort, with optional anti-slip grips
- The sensor is watertight and removable for charging, with a 24-hour battery life
- Connects automatically to your Wi-Fi or a caregiver’s phone — no setup needed for the resident wearing it
Our research partners
