Using a foot mounted accelerometer to detect changes in gait patterns.

Area of Science:

• Biomechanics
• Gait Analysis
• Wearable Sensors

Background:

• Understanding gait mechanics is crucial for diagnosing and managing mobility disorders.
• Foot-mounted accelerometers offer a non-invasive and portable method for gait data collection.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the utility of foot-mounted accelerometer data in detecting motor pattern alterations during walking.
• To differentiate between normal and stiff ankle walking conditions using accelerometer metrics.

Main Methods:

• Collected lower body kinematic and foot-mounted accelerometer data from healthy subjects during normal and stiff ankle walking trials.
• Developed an algorithm to quantify key swing phase characteristics from foot accelerometer data.
• Analyzed peak acceleration and time-to-foot strike metrics.

Main Results:

• Peak total acceleration during initial swing was significantly higher in the stiff ankle condition compared to normal walking (p = .003).
• The time between peak acceleration during initial swing and foot strike was significantly shorter in the stiff ankle condition (p = .039).
• Large effect sizes were observed for both metrics, indicating robust differences.

Conclusions:

• Simple metrics derived from tri-axial accelerometer data on the foot show significant potential for detecting changes in ankle kinematic patterns.
• Foot-mounted accelerometers can serve as a valuable tool for objective gait analysis and motor pattern assessment.