Basically, blood circulates throughout the human body with each heartbeat. A ballistocardiogram is a non-contact method of detecting the mechanical effect of blood flow through the cardiovascular system, whereas an electrocardiogram employs a contact approach to evaluate the electrical activity of the heart.

The University of Missouri’s Giovanna Guidoboni, Marjorie Skubic, and a team are currently attempting to build a standardized model for interpreting the results of a ballistocardiogram, which could provide an additional strategy for early diagnosis of various cardiovascular illnesses. Skubic’s team invented hydraulic sensors that may be placed under a bed mattress to monitor a person’s heart rate and respiration rate ten years ago. They observed that as people aged, the waveforms changed, indicating that the data contained additional information that could be used to track health changes.

Guidoboni joined Skubic’s team and developed a mathematical model that allows the team to better grasp the additional data from the ballistocardiogram and get closer to a standardized model. “Our mass redistributes inside our body even when we stand or lie still, generating a physiological motion that may be caught with a ballistocardiogram,” Guidoboni explained. “We built a virtual cardiovascular system by mathematically modeling the blood flow in our bodies, and we can see information about an individual’s cardiovascular system that we didn’t know before, such as the elasticity of the arteries, the contractility of the ventricles in the heart, or the viscoelasticity of the blood vessels.”

It’s a pretty cool, practical, and time-saving discovery. Major kudos to the team of scientists and researchers for this incredible discovery, which will aid and assist in the advancement of research into the anatomy and physiology of our cardiovascular system.