The influence of knee marker placement error on evaluation of gait kinematic parameters

Vicon motion system is an accurate equipment for objective gait analysis. According to clinical experience the most important source of errors in kinematics is marker misplacement. It seems that knee marker placement is especially important because of its direct influence on two body segments: thigh and shank. There is little data in the literature on how the misplacement of knee marker determines the changes of kinematic parameters. Therefore the aim of this study was to collect the kinematic data of subjects with different knee pathologies (one with knee flexion contracture, the second with knee hyperextension) while knee marker position was changed in a systematical way. They were walking with their natural, preferred speed. The data were collected using VICON460 motion system, the Helen Hayes marker set and Plug-In-Gait model. Then they were processed based on Polygon software. The results of both subjects showed the changes of kinematics, depending on the knee marker misplacement. The assessed joint ranges of angle change were: in knee, 18° in sagittal plane and 20° in frontal plane; in hip, 10° in sagittal plane and 24° in transversal plane; in ankle, 10° in sagittal plane and 25° in transversal plane. This paper presents the detailed data which could help the users of such systems to interpret the kinematic data.