An essential part of the SALSA solution are social network functionalities to bring people of local communities together for joint activities by using the built-in calendar to share progress and compare achievements. SALSA wants to go further than typical activity apps by engaging and enabling the community around elderly people, their families, friends, neighbours and volunteers to play a supportive role. Pointing out ideas and teaching how they can support elderly people to get active is a key element of the solution. In this sense SALSA also offers a platform for local providers of sports courses and leisure activities. SALSA identifies therapists as important stakeholders in the process of creating a more active lifestyle for seniors as part of physiotherapy. Therapists get a tool to tailor the exercises for their clients, adapt and add content and get access to the log data for evaluation. Using appropriate sensors for feedback and evaluation make sure that one is doing the exercises correctly. SALSA not only uses sensors for logging information but also to play exergames.
Objectives
Physical activity is known to improve many of the factors associated with ageing and helps older adults to maintain their well-being, functional ability and independence. However, maintaining an active lifestyle or recovering from injury/illness is a challenge, especially for the elderly, motivation is a key factor. Therefore, SALSA creates a unique, trustworthy tool for creating a supportive and motivating environment that eliminates barriers for seniors to begin and sustain an active lifestyle.
Expected results and impact
Expected result of SALSA is a smart, app-based-solution that optionally includes (body) sensors to support physiotherapy and all aspects of starting and maintaining an active lifestyle for older adults. SALSA helps to eliminate the barriers that hinder seniors from beginning and sustaining an active lifestyle, by implementing appropriate motivation methods, especially by creating a supportive network that engages the community. The output of SALSA is a mature, integrated and validated solution. Consequently, the rollout timeframe is expected to be approximately one year following the end of the project.
Partners
Partners involved in the project
- Project name: Supporting an Active Lifestyle for Seniors through an innovative App-based system for Fitness and Physiotherapy (SALSA)
- Website: www.salsa-project.com
- Coordinator: LIFEtool gemeinnützige GmbH
- Duration: 36 months
- Starting date: 02/2019
- Total budget: € 2.590.000
- Public contribution: € 1.630.000
Contact
Stefan Schürz
E.: stefan.schuerz@lifetool.at
T.: +43 664 235 17 43
