Assessing the feasibility of classifying toe-walking severity in children with cerebral palsy using a sensorized shoe

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Engineering
• Pediatric Neurology
• Rehabilitation Medicine

Background:

• Clinical management of cerebral palsy (CP) requires frequent monitoring of gait abnormalities.
• Current technologies limit the frequency of clinical gait evaluations.
• Equinus (toe-walking) gait is a common abnormality in children with CP.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the feasibility of using a sensorized shoe to monitor toe-walking severity in children with CP.
• To determine if wearable technology can provide objective gait assessments.
• To support frequent monitoring for better clinical intervention planning.

Main Methods:

• Utilized a sensorized shoe to collect data from children with CP exhibiting toe-walking.
• Analyzed features from the center of pressure trajectory.
• Examined ankle kinematics data.

Main Results:

• Demonstrated the ability to predict toe-walking severity using sensorized shoe data.
• Features from center of pressure and ankle kinematics were significant predictors.
• The study confirmed the potential of sensorized shoes for gait assessment.

Conclusions:

• Sensorized shoes are a feasible tool for assessing toe-walking severity in children with CP.
• This technology can enable more frequent and objective gait monitoring.
• Results support the development and clinical testing of sensorized shoes for CP management.