Enhanced data consistency of a portable gait measurement system

Rev Sci Instrum. 2013 Nov;84(11):114301. doi: 10.1063/1.4827295.

Abstract

A gait measurement system is a useful tool for rehabilitation applications. Such a system is used to conduct gait experiments in large workplaces such as laboratories where gait measurement equipment can be permanently installed. However, a gait measurement system should be portable if it is to be used in clinics or community centers for aged people. In a portable gait measurement system, the workspace is limited and landmarks on a subject may not be visible to the cameras during experiments. Thus, we propose a virtual-marker function to obtain positions of unseen landmarks for maintaining data consistency. This work develops a portable clinical gait measurement system consisting of lightweight motion capture devices, force plates, and a walkway assembled from plywood boards. We evaluated the portable clinic gait system with 11 normal subjects in three consecutive days in a limited experimental space. Results of gait analysis based on the verification of within-day and between-day coefficients of multiple correlations show that the proposed portable gait system is reliable.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Gait*
  • Humans
  • Organ Specificity
  • Quality Control
  • Rehabilitation / instrumentation*
  • Software
  • User-Computer Interface