Human Gait Analysis Research Papers (original) (raw)

In this study, we experimentally investigated the effect of shoes on gait with new elastomer-embedded flexible joint (EEFJ). We designed the EEFJ to support plantar flexion moments on ankle joints. A strength test was conducted for the... more

In this study, we experimentally investigated the effect of shoes on gait with new elastomer-embedded flexible joint (EEFJ). We designed the EEFJ to support plantar flexion moments on ankle joints. A strength test was conducted for the EEFJ. According to the results of the test, moments in plantar flexion were significantly stronger than those in dorsiflexion. We prototyped gait support shoes with the EEFJ. The weight of the EEFJ unit for a single foot was 32.5 g. We also conducted gait experiment on a healthy subject with and without the shoes. The results showed reductions in electromyograms of the tibialis anterior muscle in the initial phases of gait.

An attentive observer will notice that unintentional synchronization of gait between two walkers on the street seems to occur frequently. Nonetheless, the rate of occurrence and motor-sensory mechanisms underlying this phase-locking of... more

An attentive observer will notice that unintentional synchronization of gait between two walkers on the street seems to occur frequently. Nonetheless, the rate of occurrence and motor-sensory mechanisms underlying this phase-locking of gait have only recently begun to be investigated. Previous studies have either been qualitative or carried out under non-natural conditions, e.g., treadmill walking. The present study quantitatively examined the potential sensory mechanisms that contribute to the gait synchronization that occurs when two people walk side by side along a straight, over-ground, pathway. Fourteen pairs of subjects walked 70 m under five conditions that manipulated the available sensory feedback. The modalities studied were visual, auditory, and tactile. Movement was quantified using a trunk-mounted tri-axial accelerometer. A gait synchronization index (GSI) was calculated to quantify the phase synchronization of the gait rhythms. Overall, 36% of the walks exhibited synchrony. Tactile and auditory feedback showed the greatest ability to synchronize, while visual feedback was the least effective. The results show that gait synchronization during natural walking is common, quantifiable, and has modality-specific properties.

Human gait is essential for long-term health monitoring as it reflects physical and neurological aspects of a person's health status. In this paper, we propose a non-invasive video-based gait analysis system to detect abnormal gait, and... more

Human gait is essential for long-term health monitoring as it reflects physical and neurological aspects of a person's health status. In this paper, we propose a non-invasive video-based gait analysis system to detect abnormal gait, and record gait and postural parameters framework on a day-today basis. It takes videos captured from a single camera mounted on a robot as input. Open Pose, a deep learningbased 2D pose estimator is used to localize skeleton and joints in each frame. Angles of body parts form multivariate time series. Then, we employ time series analysis for normal and abnormal gait classification. Dynamic time warping (DTW)-based support vector machine (SVM)-based classification module is proposed and developed. We classify normal and abnormal gait by characterizing subjects' gait pattern and measuring deviation from their normal gait. In the experiment, we capture videos of our volunteers showing normal gait as well as simulated abnormal gait to validate the proposed methods. From the gait and postural parameters, we observe a distinction between normal and abnormal gait groups. It shows that by recording and tracking these parameters, we can quantitatively analyze body posture. People can see on the display results of the evaluation after walking through a camera mounted on a companion robot.

— in this study the best position of a double-strap backpack which is popular among college students against spine in comparison with two other kinds of packs which can be used by college students are investigated during static standing... more

— in this study the best position of a double-strap backpack which is popular among college students against spine in comparison with two other kinds of packs which can be used by college students are investigated during static standing and walking on force plate. The Amount of Changing in forward COM due to backpack carriage is the base reference of this study to compare different conditions. There are lots of studies about the weight of backpack and its effect on spinal curvature. The purpose of this study was to find the Best position of backpack against spine via test 1 and differences between three different types of packs which can be used by college students via test 2. Twenty uninjured college students (mean age = 23) were instructed to stand on force plate then walk along the laboratory room and pass the force plate respectively. Another time they repeated the same job with backpacks (10% body weight) which are used for two different tests. These tests continued until the desired vertical ground reaction force curve was appeared. All data were measured from force plate at different time points. Results show that minimum change in COM appears when subjects wear double-strap in case which backpack is placed at the middle against spine. According to the second test it is not possible to exactly choose a kind of backpack that can be offered to all college students as a best one and it may depend on students' anatomical properties.

The foot and ankle are fundamental to all upright locomotion performed by the human, accommodating itself to the external environment and providing a harmonious relationship between body and the external environment by propagation. The... more

The foot and ankle are fundamental to all upright locomotion performed by the human, accommodating itself to the external environment and providing a harmonious relationship between body and the external environment by propagation. The evaluation of the mechanical behavior of different structural foot elements can be used to understand the foot behavior during different phases of the gait cycle. Understanding the foot biomechanics during gait helps in the design of the orthotics and prosthetics. These data are essential for identifying abnormal patterns and characterizing impairments, disabilities, and handicaps. In this article, we will explain the basic biomechanics of the foot during the normal gait cycle.

Neuromusculoskeletal modeling and simulation can provide an accurate knowledge of the complex dynamics underlying human movements and is important for studying functional electrical stimulation of paralyzed muscles, for designing... more

Neuromusculoskeletal modeling and simulation can provide an accurate knowledge of the complex dynamics underlying human movements and is important for studying functional electrical stimulation of paralyzed muscles, for designing prototypes of myoelectrically controlled limbs, for general study of how the nervous system controls limb movements in both unimpaired people and those with pathologies such as spasticity induced by stroke or cerebral palsy, for analyzing athletic performance, for developing exoskeletal devices that enable walking after a stroke, for quantifying factors that affect musculoskeletal functions to improve clinical treatments and for prediction of patient-specific functional outcome for different treatment designs. This presentation provides an overview of two fundamentally different approaches to studying neuromusculoskeletal modeling and simulation: forward dynamics and inverse dynamics. Taking OpenSim and FreeBody as examples, this presentation also introduces the open source software step by step with an application case respectively. On the basis of neuromusculoskeletal modeling theory and simulation steps, the task for the years ahead will be devoted to improve the conditions where functional electrical stimulations and robotic exoskeletons are used to replace or compensate for movement functions (especially gait pattern functions) of paralyzed limbs.

Falling is one of the most common causes of hip fracture and death in older adults. A comparison of the biomechanics of the gait in fallers and non-fallers older adults, especially joint coordination and coordination variability, enables... more

Falling is one of the most common causes of hip fracture and death in older adults. A comparison of the biomechanics of the gait in fallers and non-fallers older adults, especially joint coordination and coordination variability, enables the understanding of mechanisms that underpin falling. Therefore, we compared lower-extremity intra-joint coordination and its variability between fallers and non-fallers older adults during gait. A total of 26 older adults, comprising 13 fallers, took part in this study. The participants walked barefoot at a self-selected speed on a 10-m walkway. Gait kinematics in the dominant leg during 10 cycles were captured with 10 motion tracking cameras at a sampling rate of 100 Hz. Spatiotemporal gait parameters, namely, cadence, walking speed, double support time, stride time, width, and length, as well as intra-joint coordination and coordination variability in the sagittal plane were compared between the two groups. Results showed that fallers walked wit...

The purpose of this study was to assess the gait asymmetries in terms of temporal and force gait parameters using Computer Dynography (CDG) system in a hemiparetic person. A 72 year male patient diagnosed as right sided cerebrovascular... more

The purpose of this study was to assess the gait
asymmetries in terms of temporal and force gait parameters
using Computer Dynography (CDG) system in a hemiparetic
person. A 72 year male patient diagnosed as right sided
cerebrovascular accident was referred to physiotherapy
department with complaints of weakness in left upper & lower
limbs and difficulty in walking in terms of impaired foot clearance
since one and half year. His computerised gait dynography was
done with Computer DynoGraphy (CDG)® system (Infotronic,
Netherlands, http://www.infotronic.nl).
It was found that there was asymmetry in his cyclogram,
gait line, histogram, force gait line, force graphic, step times
which included gait cycle, frequency, symmetry ratio, single
support time, double support time, single swing, stance time
and step time. Hence, it was concluded that CDG may be
considered as one of the useful clinical tool for the assessment
of gait asymmetries in hemiparetic patient so as to plan
therapeutic interventions.

Human Activity Recognition (HAR) has attracted much attention from researchers in the recent past. The intensification of research into HAR lies in the motive to understand human behaviour and inherently anticipate human intentions. Human... more

Human Activity Recognition (HAR) has attracted much attention from researchers in the recent past. The intensification of research into HAR lies in the motive to understand human behaviour and inherently anticipate human intentions. Human activity data obtained via wearable sensors like gyroscope and accelerometer is in the form of time series data, as each reading has a timestamp associated with it. For HAR, it is important to extract the relevant temporal features from raw sensor data. Most of the approaches for HAR involves a good amount of feature engineering and data pre-processing, which in turn requires domain expertise. Such approaches are time-consuming and are application-specific. In this work, a Deep Neural Network based model, which uses Convolutional Neural Network, and Gated Recurrent Unit is proposed as an end-to-end model performing automatic feature extraction and classification of the activities as well. The experiments in this work were carried out using the raw data obtained from wearable sensors with nominal pre-processing and don’t involve any handcrafted feature extraction techniques. The accuracies obtained on UCI-HAR, WISDM, and PAMAP2 datasets are 96.20%, 97.21%, and 95.27% respectively. The results of the experiments establish that the proposed model achieved superior classification performance than other similar architectures.

Endurance runners are often advised to use 90 strides min −1 , but how optimal is this stride frequency and why? Endurance runners are also often advised to maintain short strides and avoid landing with the feet too far in front of their... more

Endurance runners are often advised to use 90 strides min −1 , but how optimal is this stride frequency and why? Endurance runners are also often advised to maintain short strides and avoid landing with the feet too far in front of their hips or knees (colloquially termed 'overstriding'), but how do different kinematic strategies for varying stride length at the same stride frequency affect economy and impact peaks? Linear mixed models were used to analyze repeated measures of stride frequency, the anteroposterior position of the foot at landing, V ̇ O2 , lower extremity kinematics and vertical ground reaction forces in 14 runners who varied substantially in height and body mass and who were asked to run at 75, 80, 85, 90 and 95 strides min −1 at 3.0 m s −1. For every increase of 5 strides min −1 , maximum hip flexor moments in the sagittal plane increased by 5.8% (P<0.0001), and the position of the foot at landing relative to the hip decreased by 5.9% (P=0.003). Higher magnitudes of posteriorly directed braking forces were associated with increases in foot landing position relative to the hip (P=0.0005) but not the knee (P=0.54); increases in foot landing position relative to the knee were associated with higher magnitudes (P<0.0001) and rates of loading (P=0.07) of the vertical ground reaction force impact peak. Finally, the mean metabolically optimal stride frequency was 84.8±3.6 strides min −1 , with 50.4% of the variance explained by the trade-off between minimizing braking forces versus maximum hip flexor moments during swing. The results suggest that runners may benefit from a stride frequency of approximately 85 strides min −1 and by landing at the end of swing phase with a relatively vertical tibia.

Background: Balance efficacy starts declining from middle age. Information on the relationship between specific sub-components of balance and gait stability in a middle-aged group is crucial to implement effective preventive measures of... more

Background: Balance efficacy starts declining from middle age. Information on the relationship between specific sub-components of balance and gait stability in a middle-aged group is crucial to implement effective preventive measures of falls in the elderly. Methods: Healthy volunteers (n=50) between 45 to 65 years of both genders underwent a quantitative measurement of balance and gait on both single and dual-task paradigms. Results: Significant positive correlation was found between anteroposterior index (API) with Coefficient variation of Step Length of both lower limbs (r = 0 .289, p = 0.042 & r = (0.372), p =0.008 and (r = 0.444, p = 0.001 & r = 0.444, p = 0.001) at single and dual task respectively. Conclusion: API was found to be associated with gait stability in the middle age group. However, considering the crosssectional nature of this study, the inference needs to be confirmed in future studies to establish the causal relationship.

Global security concerns have raised a proliferation of video surveillance devices. Intelligent surveillance systems seek to discover possible threats automatically and raise alerts. Being able to identify the surveyed object can help... more

Global security concerns have raised a proliferation of video surveillance devices. Intelligent surveillance systems seek to discover possible threats automatically and raise alerts. Being able to identify the surveyed object can help determine its threat level. The current generation of devices provide digital video data to be analysed for time varying features to assist in the identification process. Commonly, people queue up to access a facility and approach a video camera in full frontal view. In this environment, a variety of biometrics are available—for example, gait which includes temporal features like stride period. Gait can be measured unobtrusively at a distance. The video data will also include face features, which are short-range biometrics. In this way, one can combine biometrics naturally using one set of data. In this paper we survey current techniques of gait recognition and modelling with the environment in which the research was conducted. We also discuss in detail the issues arising from deriving gait data, such as perspective and occlusion effects, together with the associated computer vision challenges of reliable tracking of human movement. Then, after highlighting these issues and challenges related to gait processing, we proceed to discuss the frameworks combining gait with other biometrics. We then provide motivations for a novel paradigm in biometrics-based human recognition, i.e. the use of the fronto-normal view of gait as a far-range biometrics combined with biometrics operating at a near distance.

A bipedal walking robot is a kind of humanoid robot. It is suppose to mimics human behavior and designed to perform human specific tasks. Currently, humanoid robots are not capable to walk like human being. To perform the walking task, in... more

A bipedal walking robot is a kind of humanoid robot. It is suppose to mimics human behavior and designed to perform human specific tasks. Currently, humanoid robots are not capable to walk like human being. To perform the walking task, in the current work, human gait data of six different walking styles named brisk walk, normal walk, very slow walk, medium walk, jogging and fast walk is collected through our configured IMU sensor and mobile-based accelerometers device. To capture the pattern for six different walking styles, data is extracted for hip, knee, ankle, shank, thigh and foot. A total six classes of walking activities are explored for clinical examination. The accelerometer is placed at center of the human body of 15 male and 10 female subjects. In the experimental setup, we have done exploratory analysis over the different gait capturing techniques, different gait features and different gait classification techniques. For the classification purpose, three state of art techniques are used as artificial neural network, extreme learning machine and deep neural network learning based CNN mode. The model classification accuracy is obtained as 87.4%, 88% and 92%, respectively. Here, WISDM activity data set is also used for verification purpose.

Patients who are suffering from shoulder Orthopedic disorder Like Shoulder impingement syndrome, Rotator cuff tear , Rc Tendinitis etc. The research is about the Examination of the Rotator Cuff Disorders and treatment of patients with... more

Patients who are suffering from shoulder Orthopedic disorder Like Shoulder impingement syndrome, Rotator cuff tear , Rc Tendinitis etc. The research is about the Examination of the Rotator Cuff Disorders and treatment of patients with proper advanced Physical Rehabilitation

—Severe injuries of lower extremities often lead to chronic pain and reduced walking abilities. We postulated that measuring free-living gait can provide further information about walking ability in complement to clinical evaluations. We... more

—Severe injuries of lower extremities often lead to chronic pain and reduced walking abilities. We postulated that measuring free-living gait can provide further information about walking ability in complement to clinical evaluations. We sought to validate a method that characterizes free gaits with a wearable sensor. Over one week, 81 healthy controls (HC) and 66 chronic lower limb pain patients (CLLPP) hospitalized for multidisciplinary rehabilitation wore a simple accelerometer (Actigraph). In the acceleration signals, steady one-minute walks detected numbered 7,835 (5,085 in CLLPP and 2,750 in HC). Five gait quality measures were assessed: movement intensity, cadence, stride regularity, and short-term and long-term local dynamic stability. Gait quality variables differed significantly between CLLPP and HC (4% to 26%). Intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) revealed moderate to high repeatability (0.71–0.91), which suggests that seven days of measurement are sufficient to assess average gait patterns. Regression analyses showed significant association (R 2 =0.44) between gait quality variables and a clinical evaluation of walking ability, i.e. the 6 minute walk test, Overall, the results show that the method is easy to implement, valid (high concurrent validity), and reliable to assess walking abilities ecologically.

Template-based model-free approach provides by far the most successful solution to the gait recognition problem in literature. Recent work discusses how isolating the head and leg portion of the template increase the performance of a gait... more

Template-based model-free approach provides by far the most successful solution to the gait recognition problem in literature. Recent work discusses how isolating the head and leg portion of the template increase the performance of a gait recognition system making it robust against covariates like clothing and carrying conditions. However, most involve a manual definition of the boundaries. The method we propose, the genetic template segmen-tation, employs the genetic algorithm to automate the boundary selection process. This method was tested on the gait energy image (GEI), gait entropy image, and active energy image templates. GEI seems to exhibit the best result when segmented with our approach. Experimental results depict that our approach significantly outperforms the existing implementations of view-invariant gait recognition.

—Freezing of gait (FoG) in people with Parkinson's disease (PD) is an environmentally sensitive, intermittent problem that occurs most often during turning. FoG is difficult for clinicians to evaluate and treat because it can be difficult... more

—Freezing of gait (FoG) in people with Parkinson's disease (PD) is an environmentally sensitive, intermittent problem that occurs most often during turning. FoG is difficult for clinicians to evaluate and treat because it can be difficult to elicit during a clinical visit. Here, we aimed to develop a clinically valid objective measure of freezing severity during a 2-min 360-degree turning-in-place. Twenty-eight subjects with PD (16 freezers, FoG+, and 12 nonfreezers, FoGÀ) in the ''off " state and 14 healthy control subjects were tested. Subjects wore three inertial sensors (one on each shin and one on the waist) while (1) turning in place for 2 min (alternating 360 degrees to the right with 360 degrees to the left) and (2) performing an Instrumented 7-m Timed Up and Go test (ITUG). Performance was videotaped, and clinical severity of FoG was independently rated by two movement disorders specialists (co-authors). Turning in place consistently resulted in FoG (13 out of 16 subjects with PD) while FoG was clinically observed in only two subjects with PD during the ITUG test. The Freezing Ratio during the turning test was significantly correlated with the clinical ratings (q = 0.7, p = 0.003) and with score on the new FoG questionnaire (q = 0.5, p = 0.03). After correcting for symptom severity (UPDRS-III), out of the four objective measures of the turning test (total number of turns, average turn peak speed and average turn smoothness), only the Freezing Ratio was significantly different across groups (p = 0.04). Freezing can be well quantified with body-worn inertial sensors during a 2-min turning-in-place protocol.

BACKGROUND/AIM: Backpack effect posture, walking and physiological costs but there is dearth of literature on effects of backpack strap (1 versus 2 straps) on gait and perceived exertion among young adults. We determined the influence of... more

BACKGROUND/AIM: Backpack effect posture, walking and physiological costs but there is dearth of literature on effects of backpack strap (1 versus 2 straps) on gait and perceived exertion among young adults. We determined the influence of type of backpack shoulder strap on gait parameters and perceived exertion of young adults in a free-living normal walking speed. METHODS: Twenty-five young adults with a mean age of 22 years underwent a self-selected normal speed walking for six minutes each under 3 testing conditions: without a backpack; with 1 strap; and with 2 straps. Selected gait parameters and perceived exertion were assessed. RESULTS: There were no significant difference in stride length, stride time, step length, step time, gait speed, and cadence among the three walking conditions. However, perceived exertions were significantly higher when the backpack was carried with 15% irrespective of 1 strap or 2 straps. CONCLUSION: Momentary carriage of a backpack either on 1 strap or 2 straps does not appear to influence gait phases. However, this short bout of normal walking appear to increase perceived exertion in young adults irrespective of whether the backpack is wore on single or double shoulder strap.

Automatic detection of gait events has primarily been confined to methods which require a heuristic or biometric determination of threshold values for each event, which are then stipulated as conditions while defining algorithms. This... more

Automatic detection of gait events has primarily been confined to methods which require a heuristic or biometric determination of threshold values for each event, which are then stipulated as conditions while defining algorithms. This takes away from the complete automation of the process, since subject-wise threshold calculation must be done manually or using force plate data. Machine learning algorithms and neural network approaches have been proposed, but unsupervised machine learning alogrithms (K Means clustering, complete linkage) are yet to be explored and employed. Some algorithms proposed in the last two decades have presented purely automatic identification (Zeni et al., Ghoussayni et al., etc.), but the data used is either gyroscopic or captured using Vicon optical motion cameras. Microsoft Kinect is an inexpensive alternative to Vicon cameras for conducting gait analysis, and provides data for joint kinematics, especially lower limb movement data, which is pertinent to gait event detection. This project has used kinematic data collected on treadmill trials only through 3 Kinect V2s integrated using FusionKit software, and introduces machine learning techniques to perform gait event detection.

Background: Muscle energy technique (MET) is asn osteopathic treatment technique that is utilized frequently in the clinical setting, yet the overall effectiveness is minimally supported within literature. MET is an osteopathic technique... more

Background: Muscle energy technique (MET) is asn osteopathic treatment technique that is utilized frequently in the clinical setting, yet the overall effectiveness is minimally supported within literature. MET is an osteopathic technique that involves an isometric contract relax technique intended to improve alignment and enhance neuromuscular education. Objective: The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of MET on running kinetics on subjects with low back pain. Method: A quasi-experimental research design was implemented and subjects, all of whom either had a history of or currently experience low back pain, underwent pre-intervention data collection of: anthropometric measurements, medical history, dorsaVi 3D running analysis, and a musculoskeletal and neurological clinical exam. Subjects underwent 6 weeks of isolated lumbo-pelvic MET at a frequency of twice a week, and were instructed to avoid all other treatment. Post-intervention data collected included a clinical exam and another dorsaVI running analysis. Results: Data was analyzed including: pre and post-treatment initial peak acceleration, ground contact time, and ground reaction force. A paired t-test comparing pre and post mean kinetic changes demonstrated the following p values: initial peak acceleration p = .80, ground contact time p = .96, and ground reaction force p = .68. Conclusion: This study demonstrated that isolated MET treatment is not statistically significant for changing 3D kinetic running variable in subjects with low back pain. Clinical Implications: Recommend healthcare providers to use a multi-treatment approach for low back pain. Future research should include a control group and larger sample size.

Background: Fifty years ago, the groundbreaking British sketch series Monty Python's Flying Circus premiered on BBC One and forever changed the world of comedy. The humour transcended mere absurdity by poking a subversive finger in the... more

Background: Fifty years ago, the groundbreaking British sketch series Monty Python's Flying Circus premiered on BBC One and forever changed the world of comedy. The humour transcended mere absurdity by poking a subversive finger in the eye of buttoned-up British society. Here, we commemorate this cultural milestone and simultaneously call attention to an emerging concept in the health sciences, termed simplified peer review. The union of these disparate subjects motivates a formal gait analysis based on one of the troupe's most iconic sketches, "The Ministry of Silly Walks", a satire of bureaucratic inefficiency. Research question: The sketch portrays peer review as exceedingly efficient, lasting all of 20 s. But was it fair? The answer depends on how one measures silliness. If silly walking can be defined as deviations from typical walking, then it can be quantified using video-based gait analysis. Methods: To assess the quality of peer review at the Ministry of Silly Walks, we measured knee flexion in the sagittal plane of motion and calculated the Gait Variable Score (GVS) for three gait cycles, those of the Minister (n = 2) and Mr. Pudey (n = 1), an applicant for a Research Fellowship. Results: For the Minister, we found large deviations from typical walking across two gait cycles (GVS knee (1) = 33.6, GVS knee(2) = 23.3), whereas the gait of Mr Pudey produced an intermediate score (GVS knee = 16.3). By this measure, Mr Pudney's walk is 3.3 times more variable than typical walking, whereas an exemplary silly walk is 6.7 and 4.7 times more variable, respectively, than typical walking. Significance: Our analysis corroborates the Minister's assessment: Mr Pudey is a promising applicant and deserving of a Research Fellowship to advance his silly walk. We suggest that the sketch holds special resonance and uncanny prescience for researchers in the health sciences today.

This paper introduces a new approach for gait analysis based on the Gait Energy Image (GEI). The main idea is to segment the gait cycle into some biomechanical poses, and to compute a particular GEI for each pose. Pose-based GEIs can... more

This paper introduces a new approach for gait analysis based on the Gait Energy Image (GEI). The main idea is to segment the gait cycle into some biomechanical poses, and to compute a particular GEI for each pose. Pose-based GEIs can better represent body parts and dynamics descriptors with respect to the usually blurred depiction provided by a general GEI. Gait classification is carried out by fusing separated pose-based decisions. Experiments on human identification prove the benefits of this new approach when compared to the original GEI method.

The purpose of this research work is to investigate the biomechanics of pelvis, hip, knee, and ankle joint motion using a Kinect sensor & inertial measurement unit (IMU) sensor during the normal walk. In this paper, a very cost-effective... more

The purpose of this research work is to investigate the biomechanics of pelvis, hip, knee, and ankle joint motion using a Kinect sensor & inertial measurement unit (IMU) sensor during the normal walk. In this paper, a very cost-effective gait analysis system based on Microsoft Kinect v2 and Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) device is presented. Kinect sensor is used for acquiring 3D skeleton data (camera (x, y, z), depth (x, y) orientation (x, y, z, w), color (x, y)) with 25 human body joints. For this analysis, the lower extremities joints i.e. spinal cord joint, hip, knee, and ankle joints of both left and right legs are being considered. The main contribution of this research work is the joint angle calculation of lower extremities of human gait based on Microsoft Kinect sensor V2 and IMU sensor. From the law of cosine, the joint angle is calculated between the two joints and plotted for a single subject. We came with the observation that the characteristics of the human knee joint and ankle joint are inversely related to each other. There are two sharp humps for knee and ankle joints during the normal walk. During the swing phase, the knee joint is highly activated while during toe-off and heel strike it is least activated. This analysis of clinical data is very useful for prosthesis limb and exoskeleton design. The stability of calculated joints trajectories is validated using the limit cycle curve. A system is designed for real-time analysis of biomechanics of different lower limbs joints using gait.

Objectives: Crouch gait in cerebral palsy (CP) is characterized by excessive knee flexion throughout stance. Single‑event multilevel orthopedic surgery is the standard of care to improve gait and function through correcting lever arm... more

Objectives: Crouch gait in cerebral palsy (CP) is characterized by excessive knee flexion throughout stance. Single‑event multilevel orthopedic surgery is the standard of care to improve gait and function through correcting lever arm deformities in children with CP. A limited number of prospective studies on single-event multilevel orthopedic surgery for crouching CP children are available. We intended to evaluate the effectiveness of single‑event multilevel surgery (SEMLS) regarding functional mobility, energy consumption during gait, and the mental, attitudinal, and lifestyle status of CP children with crouch gait on the short term. Methods: Thirty‑four limbs in 18 children with bilateral spastic and crouching CP were enrolled prospectively and subjected to SEMLS. The mean age was 12 years (range, 5.5–18). Outcome measures included clinical couch examination parameters, walking speed, physiological cost index (PCI), functional mobility scale (FMS), and the World Health Organization Disability Assessment Schedule 2.0 (WHODAS 2.0). In addition, we used instrumented three‑dimensional gait analysis as an outcome measure for some participants. Results: At a mean follow‑up of 16 months (range, 12–22), the couch examination parameters, FMS at 5, 50, and 500 m, walking speed, PCI, and WHODAS 2.0 score showed a highly statistically significant improvement (P < 0.01). Conclusions: SEMLS for CP children and adolescents with crouch gait is effective for improving function, independence, energy consumption, and quality of life on the short term.

Heimer, Željko, 2005. Kolorirani prikaz računalne analize hoda, U: Kern, Jospia, Hercigonja-Szekeres, Mira, ur. Medicinska informatika 2005 - Zbornik radova 7. simpozija Hrvatskog društva za medicinsku informatiku, Rijeka, 21. listopada... more

Heimer, Željko, 2005. Kolorirani prikaz računalne analize hoda, U: Kern, Jospia, Hercigonja-Szekeres, Mira, ur. Medicinska informatika 2005 - Zbornik radova 7. simpozija Hrvatskog društva za medicinsku informatiku, Rijeka, 21. listopada 2005., Med. inform., God. 7, Str. 165-170. // Klinička analiza hoda nezamisliva je bez uporabe suvremenih računala. Izmjereni podaci o položajima pojedinih točaka na tijelu ispitanika tijekom hoda, kao i podaci o silama reakcije podloge računalski se obrađuju korištenjem modela tijela te se kao izlazni rezultati dobivaju nizovi kinematičkih i kinetičkih krivulja koje opisuju iznose rotacije pojedinih segmenata tijela te sile i momente koji se javljaju u zglobovima. Interpretacija tih rezultata je problem je u kliničkoj primjeni jer je dugotrajna i naporna. Stoga je razvijen kolorirani prikaz rezultata koji upotrebom boja kliničaru indicira ona mjesta na krivuljama kod kojih je iznos značajno različit od norme.

Freezing of gait (FoG) is a motor impairment among patients with advanced Parkinson's disease which is associated with falls and has a negative impact on a patient's quality of life. Wearable systems have been developed to detect FoG and... more

Freezing of gait (FoG) is a motor impairment among patients with advanced Parkinson's disease which is associated with falls and has a negative impact on a patient's quality of life. Wearable systems have been developed to detect FoG and to
help patients resume walking by means of rhythmical cueing. A step further is to predict the FoG and start cueing a few seconds before it happens, which might help patients avoid the gait freeze entirely. We characterize the gait parameters continuously with up to 10-12 seconds prior to FoG, observe if and how they change before subjects enter FoG, and compare them with the gait before turns. Moreover, we introduce and discuss new frequency-based features to describe gait and motor anomalies prior to FoG. Using inertial units mounted on the ankles of 5 subjects, we show specific changes in the stride duration and length with up to four seconds prior to FoG on all subjects, compared with turns. Moreover, the dominant frequency migrates towards [3, 8] Hz band with up to six seconds prior to FoG on 3 subjects. These findings open the path to real-time prediction of FoG from inertial measurement units.

The human capacity for synchronising body movements to an external rhythmic source enables various group activities, such as music-making and dancing. The present study aimed to investigate the influence of diff erent social contexts on... more

The human capacity for synchronising body movements to an external rhythmic source enables various group activities, such as music-making and dancing. The present study aimed to investigate the influence of diff erent social contexts on the process of synchronisation, termed `entrainment'. Pairs of human participants were instructed to walk on parallel treadmills under di fferent experimental conditions. In the `separate' (control) condition, participants could not see or hear each other; in the together condition, participants could see and hear each other but were instructed not to converse; finally, in the talking condition, participants conversed with each other. Time series data was extracted from video data obtained by placing a static video camera behind the participants, and the interaction between both participants' footfalls was analysed using circular statistics. It was hypothesised that the degree of synchrony between footfalls would be highest in
the talking condition, lower in the together condition, and non-existent in the separate condition. None of the statistical measures showed signi cance for a within-subjects main eff ect of condition, but almost all measures showed a clear trend in agreement with the hypothesis. It was shown that the degree of interpersonal entrainment was higher when participants talked to each other than when they did not interact. This has implications for the study of the social activity of musicmaking,
and suggests that embodied interpersonal processes must be a focal component of any exploration of human musicality in all its manifestations.

Gait is the walking style or pattern of the human motions. This research aims to improve the accuracy of human gait recognition using the information provided by Microsoft Kinect. It benefits from a human joint positioning system by... more

Gait is the walking style or pattern of the human motions. This research aims to improve the accuracy of human gait recognition using the information provided by Microsoft Kinect. It benefits from a human joint positioning system by Kinect in three dimensions and proposes a new method in recognising the human gait. In this method, the angles between the body’s joints during the walking process have been used in addition to the body’s limb dimensions and lengths. The result of the experiments has proved that this method can provide higher accuracy in recognising the human gait in comparison to the previous method.

Freezing of gait (FoG) is a motor impairment among patients with advanced Parkinson's disease, associated with falls and negative impact on patient's quality of life. Detecting such freezes allows real-time gait monitoring to reduce the... more

Freezing of gait (FoG) is a motor impairment among patients with advanced Parkinson's disease, associated with falls and negative impact on patient's quality of life. Detecting such freezes allows real-time gait monitoring to reduce the risk of falls. We investigate the correlation between wrist movements and the freezing of the gait in Parkinsons disease, targeting FoG-detection from wrist-worn sensing data. While most of research focuses on placing inertial sensors on lower limb, i.e., foot, ankle, thigh, we focus on the wrist as an alternative placement. Commonly worn accessories at the wrist such as watches or wristbands are more likely to be accepted and easier to be worn by elderly users, especially subjects with motor problems. Experiments on data from 11 subjects with Parkinson's disease and FoG show there are specific features from wrist movements which are related to gait freeze, such the power on different frequency ranges and statistical information from acceleration and rotation data. Moreover, FoG can be detected by using wrist motion and machine learning models with a FoG hit rate of 0.9, and a specificity between 0.66-0.8. Compared with the state-of-the-art lower limb information used to detect FoG, the wrist increases the number of false detected events, while preserving the FoG hit-rate and detection latency. This suggests that wrist sensors can be a feasible alternative to the cumbersome placement on the legs.

ANG is a family of low cost modular walking aids based on commercially available Rollator. We present two models of this family: the simplest ANG-light which is intended to be used as a diagnosis tool for walking and as a fall... more

ANG is a family of low cost modular walking
aids based on commercially available Rollator. We present
two models of this family: the simplest ANG-light which is
intended to be used as a diagnosis tool for walking and as a fall
detection tool and ANG-II, a motorized walker with over 20 on-
board sensors. Trajectography obtained through ANG-light
with 24 healthy subjects has been used to obtain gold standards
of walking pattern and the walker is currently being used at
Nice hospital with 30 elderly end-users in order to determine
if trajectory records obtained during the daily use of a walker
may allow doctors to objectively characterize abnormal walking
patterns, to follow the progress of a rehabilitation process
and to detect emerging pathologies. The more sophisticated
ANG-II is intended to be used as a test platform for original
functionalities, some of which will be presented.

Gait analysis refers to the study of human locomotion which plays an important role in clinical assessment for the identification of gait abnormality for neurological disorder persons and for athletes. This can also be used in biometrics... more

Gait analysis refers to the study of human locomotion which plays an important role in clinical assessment for the identification of gait abnormality for neurological disorder persons and for athletes. This can also be used in biometrics as it is unique and difficult to hide. The human gait is considered a very unique for each subject. This chapter tried to answer the question, what are the significant features to identify the different activity of human? The second research question which this chapter has addressed was how one can efficiently identify the different activity of walking and provide the generic solution. In this chapter, artificial neural network is used to classify the human gait and compared with ELM. The dataset contains data collected from the various tasks like: walking at natural speed (N), walking very slow (XS), walking slow (S), walking medium (M), walking fast (L), walking on toes (T), walking on heels (H), stair ascending (U), and stair descending (D). These nine behaviors are classified on the basis of the following features like Pelvic Ant/Posterior Tilt, Hip Flex/Extension, Hip Ad/Abduction, Hip Internal/External Rotation, Knee Flexion/Extension, and Ankle Dorsi/Plantar flexion. The algorithm used for the classification is ELM as it provides good classification results in less computational time. The performance is also compared with SVM and KNN algorithms. This chapter also incorporates PCA technique to determine the top gait features. The results showed that the classification accuracy of ELM is better than SVM and KNN. To provide the generic solution and less complex model the ensemble learning is being explored. The combination of different classifier provides the average performance which avoid over fitting and less dependence on hyper-parameter. The ensemble learning technique has provided the much need generic to our proposed solution for multi activity gait classification.

Context: Two-dimensional (2D) video-based analysis is often used by clinicians to examine the foot strike pattern (FSP) and step rate in runners. Reliability and validity of 2D video-based analysis have been questioned. Objective: To... more

Context: Two-dimensional (2D) video-based analysis is often used by clinicians to examine the foot strike pattern (FSP) and step rate in runners. Reliability and validity of 2D video-based analysis have been questioned. Objective: To synthesize the psychometric properties of 2D video-based analysis for assessing runners' FSP and step rate while running. Data Sources: Medline/PubMed, Science Direct, Embase, EBSCOHost/CINAHL, and Scielo were searched from their inception to August 2018. Study Selection: Studies were included if (1) they were published in English, French, Portuguese or Spanish; (2) they reported at least 1 psychometric property (validity and/or reliability) of 2D video-based analysis to assess running kinematics; and (3) they assessed FSP or step rate during running. Study Design: Systematic review. Level of Evidence: Level 2. Data Extraction: Studies were screened for methodological (MacDermid checklist) and psychometric quality (COSMIN checklist) by 2 independent raters. Results: Eight studies, with a total of 702 participants, were included. Seven studies evaluated the reliability of 2D video to assess FSP and found very good to excellent reliability (0.41 ≤ κ ≤ 1.00). Two studies reported excellent reliability for the calculation of step rate (0.75 ≤ intraclass correlation coefficient [ICC] ≤ 1.00). One study demonstrated excellent concurrent validity between 2D and 3D (gold standard) motion capture systems to determine FSP (Gwet agreement coefficient [AC] > 0.90; ICC > 0.90), and another study found excellent concurrent validity between 2D video and another device to calculate step rate (0.84 ≤ ICC ≤ 0.95). Conclusion: Strong evidence suggests that 2D video-based analysis is a reliable method for assessing FSP and quantifying step rate, regardless of the experience of the assessor. Limited evidence exists on the validity of 2D video-based analysis in determining FSP and calculating step rate during running.

Parkinson’s Disease is a worldwide health problem, causing movement disorder and gait deficiencies. Automatic noninvasive techniques for Parkinson's disease diagnosis is appreciated by patients, clinicians and neuroscientists. Gait offers... more

Parkinson’s Disease is a worldwide health problem, causing movement disorder and gait deficiencies. Automatic noninvasive techniques for Parkinson's disease diagnosis is appreciated by patients, clinicians and neuroscientists. Gait offers many advantages compared to other biometrics specifically when data is collected using wearable devices; data collection can be performed through inexpensive technologies, remotely, and continuously. In this study, a new set of gait features associated with Parkinson’s Disease are introduced and extracted from accelerometer data. Then, we used a feature selection technique called maximum information gain minimum correlation (MIGMC). Using MIGMC, features are first reduced based on Information Gain method and then through Pearson correlation analysis and Tukey post-hoc multiple comparison test. The ability of several machine learning methods, including Support Vector Machine, Random Forest, AdaBoost, Bagging, and Naïve Bayes are investigated across different feature sets. Similarity Network analysis is also performed to validate our optimal feature set obtained using MIGMC technique. The effect of feature standardization is also investigated. Results indicates that standardization could improve all classifiers’ performance. In addition, the feature set obtained using MIGMC provided the highest classification performance. It is shown that our results from Similarity Network analysis are consistent with our results from the classification task, emphasizing on the importance of choosing an optimal set of gait features to help objective assessment and automatic diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease. Results illustrate that ensemble methods and specifically boosting classifiers had better performances than other classifiers. In summary, our preliminary results support the potential benefit of accelerometers as an objective tool for diagnostic purposes in PD.