Assessment of spatio-temporal gait parameters from trunk accelerations during human walking

This paper studies the feasibility of an analysis of spatio-temporal gait parameters based upon accelerometry. To this purpose, acceleration patterns of the trunk and their relationships with spatio-temporal gait parameters were analysed in healthy subjects. Based on model predictions of the body's centre of mass trajectory during walking, algorithms were developed to determine spatio-temporal gait parameters from trunk acceleration data. In a first experiment, predicted gait parameters were compared with gait parameters determined from ground reaction forces measured by a treadmill. In a second experiment, spatio-temporal gait parameters were determined during overground walking. From the results of these experiments, it is concluded that, in healthy subjects, the duration of subsequent stride cycles and left/right steps, and estimations of step length and walking speed can be obtained from lower trunk accelerations. The possibility to identify subsequent stride cycles can be the basis for an analysis of other signals (e.g. kinematic or muscle activity) within the stride cycle.