Review of '<b>Improvisation of Finite element analysis for designing an After Fall Assistive Device for the Elderly Patients </b>'

Dear Editor and Reviewer,

Dated -9-9-2023

Thank you for taking the time to review our manuscript. We appreciate your valuable feedback and having the careful consideration. Below were your remarks and following are our rebuttals.

Comment 1: the title could be modified to appropriately reflect the presented work.

Response: Thanks for your valuable comment. The title of the manuscript is revised as per recommendation and added to the manuscript as follows.

Design of an After Fall Assistive Device for the Elderly Patients by Finite element methods

Comment 2: Lines 52-53: should be 'long-term health care facilities' instead of 'long-term facilities health care'

Response: Thanks for your valuable comment. Following correction has been incorporated in the manuscript.

Given that seniors are a vulnerable segment of society, obese seniors who have a body mass index (BMI) of ≥ 40 kgm2 face a greater risk of falling by 16% compared with a nonobese seniors1,7. In a study by Cameron et al. on resident seniors in long-term health care facilities long-term facilities health care it was found that %56.2 of seniors fell once at least during six months’ time span⁸.

Comment 3: Lines 101 and 110: there is no need for 'below'

Response: Thanks for your valuable comment. Following correction has been incorporated in the manuscript.

A three-dimensional computer aided design (3D CAD) model was designed by using SolidWorks 2017 (Dassault Systems, Waltham, MA, US). As shown in Figure 1 below, (A) is the walker’s grip on which the user will support him/herself and move the walker as needed.

Comment 4: Line 121: 'raising' instead of 'rising'

Response: Thanks for your valuable comment. The correction has been modified incorporating the correction as shown following to the figure 2. Following correction has been incorporated in the manuscript.

Figure 2. Device’s operational steps (flow chart) and the procedure for raising rising a user up. (a) the device in normal position. (b) when the user unfolds the seat. (c) the device is lowered for lifting up the senior. During rising up, the procedure is reversed from step (c) to step (a).

Comment 5: Line 147-148: 'Error! Reference source not found'

Response: Thanks for your valuable comment. Following correction has been incorporated in the manuscript.

The walker was fixed at the base of the pistons and two loads were applied separately. The first load was applied on the seat with a magnitude of 1400 N (i.e. a mass of approximately 142 kg) while the seat was elevated and lowered, respectively as shown in Figures 4 .  (Error! Reference source not found.a & b). The second load was applied on the grip with a magnitude of 504 N on each side, which is considered 36% of the senior’s weight during a full stand up (Figure 4c)²²

Comment 6: The authors mention that the device was designed based on standard dimensions of a conventional walker. However, an image or table showing the dimensions of the device would be benefecial to the readers.

Response: Thanks for your valuable comment. Following correction has been incorporated in the manuscript.

The focus in this study is to design a device that can carry a heavy weight senior or patient and be mobile at the same time. The walker’s design was based on a conventional standard walker size with a base width and depth of 52 and 50 cm, respectively. The height of a walker is adjustable and usually it is in the range of 77 to 95 cm. However, the height of the proposed design will vary as will be mentioned afterwards. The general idea of the proposed design is a walker aid with piston leg support and foldable seat; the seat can be rotated by 90 degrees to allow the senior to sit on.