Validation of a Wearable IMU System for Gait Analysis: Protocol and Application to a New System (original) (raw)
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European Journal of Translational Myology, 2020
There is a lack of commercially available low-cost technologies to assess gait clinically in non-controlled environments. As a consequence of this, there has been poor massification of motion measurement technologies that are both objective and reliable in nature. Advances about the study of gait and its interpretation in recent years using inertial sensors have allowed proposing acceptable alternatives for the development of portable and low-cost systems that contribute to people’s health in places and institutions that cannot acquire or maintain the operation of commercially available systems. A system based on a custom single Inertial Measurement Unit and a mobile application is proposed. Thus, an investigation is carried out using methodologies and algorithms found in the literature in order to get the main gait events and the spatial-temporal gait parameters. Twenty healthy Chilean subjects were assessed using a motion capture system simultaneously with the proposed tool. The r...
Technical validation of real-world monitoring of gait: a multicentric observational study
BMJ Open, 2021
IntroductionExisting mobility endpoints based on functional performance, physical assessments and patient self-reporting are often affected by lack of sensitivity, limiting their utility in clinical practice. Wearable devices including inertial measurement units (IMUs) can overcome these limitations by quantifying digital mobility outcomes (DMOs) both during supervised structured assessments and in real-world conditions. The validity of IMU-based methods in the real-world, however, is still limited in patient populations. Rigorous validation procedures should cover the device metrological verification, the validation of the algorithms for the DMOs computation specifically for the population of interest and in daily life situations, and the users’ perspective on the device.Methods and analysisThis protocol was designed to establish the technical validity and patient acceptability of the approach used to quantify digital mobility in the real world by Mobilise-D, a consortium funded by...
Conference proceedings : ... Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society. IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society. Annual Conference, 2013
The increasing age of the world population is posing new challenges to our society, such as how to keep this aging population healthy and active despite of the age. In recent years, there has been a lot of interest for gait analysis for rehabilitation purposes as well as for performance assessment of this aging population. While current systems work well, they still have several limitations. Cost, need for specialized personnel, need to be used in a research center, and sporadic measurement prevent these systems from being widely used. The authors propose the use of extremely miniaturized, portable measurement systems, which can be worn by the users during their everyday life, and can monitor their gait over a long timespan. This paper presents the preliminary experiments with such a system.
Validity and repeatability of inertial measurement units for measuring gait parameters
Gait & posture, 2017
Inertial measurement units (IMUs) are small wearable sensors that have tremendous potential to be applied to clinical gait analysis. They allow objective evaluation of gait and movement disorders outside the clinic and research laboratory, and permit evaluation on large numbers of steps. However, repeatability and validity data of these systems are sparse for gait metrics. The purpose of this study was to determine the validity and between-day repeatability of spatiotemporal metrics (gait speed, stance percent, swing percent, gait cycle time, stride length, cadence, and step duration) as measured with the APDM Opal IMUs and Mobility Lab system. We collected data on 39 healthy subjects. Subjects were tested over two days while walking on a standard treadmill, split-belt treadmill, or overground, with IMUs placed in two locations: both feet and both ankles. The spatiotemporal measurements taken with the IMU system were validated against data from an instrumented treadmill, or using st...
Real-Time Gait Analysis Using a Single Head-Worn Inertial Measurement Unit
IEEE Transactions on Consumer Electronics
The background of our study is to apply advanced real-time gait analysis to walking interventions in daily-life setting. A vast of wearable devices provide gait information but not more than pedometer functions such as step counting, displacement and velocity. This paper suggests a real-time gait analysis method based on a head-worn inertial measurement unit (H-IMU). A novel analysis method implements real-time detection of gait events (heel strike, toe off, mid stance phase) and immediately provides detailed spatiotemporal parameters. The reliability of this method was proven by a measurement with over 11000 steps from seven participants on a 400 m outdoor track. The advanced gait analysis was conducted without any limitation of a fixed reference frame (e.g., indoor stage, infrared cameras). The mean absolute error in step-counting was 0.24%. Compared to a pedometer, additional gait parameters were obtained such as foot-ground contact time (CT) and contact time ratio (CTR). The gait monitoring system can be used as real-time and long-term feedback, which is applicable in the management of the health status and on injury prevention.
A WEARABLE GAIT ANALYSIS SYSTEM USING INERTIAL SENSORS PART II - Evaluation in a Clinical Setting
Proceedings of the International Conference on Bio-inspired Systems and Signal Processing, 2012
The gold standard for gait analysis, in-lab 3D motion capture, is not routinely used for clinical assessment due to limitations in availability, cost and required training. Inexpensive alternatives to quantitative gait analysis are needed to increase the its adoption. Inertial sensors such as accelerometers and gyroscopes are promising tools for the development of wearable gait analysis (WGA) systems. The present study evaluates the use of a WGA system on hip-arthroplasty patients in a real clinical setting. The system provides information about gait symmetry and normality. Results show that the normality measurements are well correlated with various quantitative and qualitative measures of recovery and health status.
Systems based on inertial sensors are increasingly used in motion analysis due to their low cost, portability and wearability. However, since accuracy is crucial in clinical gait analysis, it is important to assess it in new systems. The aim of this study is to compare the performances of a magnetic and inertial sensors system (MIMUs) to a gold standard, the electromechanical system STEP32. Results shows that spatio-temporal parameters are accurately estimated by the MIMUs system. Joint kinematics does not reach the accuracy of the STEP32 system. In fact, although MIMUs measurements on the knee and hip joints are clinically acceptable, they are not yet reliable for the ankle joint.
Kinetic Gait Analysis Using a Low-Cost Insole
IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering, 2000
Abnormal gait caused by stroke or other pathological reasons can greatly impact the life of an individual. Being able to measure and analyze that gait is often critical for rehabilitation. Motion analysis labs and many current methods of gait analysis are expensive and inaccessible to most individuals. The low-cost, wearable, and wireless insole-based gait analysis system in this study provides kinetic measurements of gait by using lowcost force sensitive resistors. This paper describes the design and fabrication of the insole and its evaluation in six control subjects and four hemiplegic stroke subjects. Subject-specific linear regression models were used to determine ground reaction force plus moments corresponding to ankle dorsiflexion/plantarflexion, knee flexion/extension, and knee abduction/adduction. Comparison with data simultaneously collected from a clinical motion analysis laboratory demonstrated that the insole results for ground reaction force and ankle moment were highly correlated (all >0.95) for all subjects, while the two knee moments were less strongly correlated (generally >0.80). This provides a means of cost-effective and efficient healthcare delivery of mobile gait analysis that can be used anywhere from large clinics to an individual's home.
Validation and reliability testing of a new, fully integrated gait analysis insole
Journal of Foot and Ankle Research, 2015
Background: A new tool (OpenGo, Moticon GmbH) was introduced to continuously measure kinetic and temporospatial gait parameters independently through an insole over up to 4 weeks. The goal of this study was to investigate the validity and reliability of this new insole system in a group of healthy individuals. Methods: Gait data were collected from 12 healthy individuals on a treadmill at two different speeds. In total, six trials of three minutes each were performed by every participant. Validation was performed with the FDM-S System (Zebris). Complete sensor data were used for a within test reliability analysis of over 10000 steps. Intraclass correlation was calculated for different gait parameters and analysis of variance performed. Results: Intraclass correlation for the validation was >0.796 for temporospatial and kinetic gait parameters. No statistical difference was seen between the insole and force plate measurements (difference between means: 36.3 ± 27.19 N; p = 0.19 and 0.027 ± 0.028 s; p = 0.36). Intraclass correlation for the reliability was >0.994 for all parameters measured. Conclusion: The system is feasible for clinical trials that require step by step as well as grouped analysis of gait over a long period of time. Comparable validity and reliability to a stationary analysis tool has been shown.