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Updated: May 4, 2026
Clinical Assessment of Spatiotemporal Gait Parameters in Patients and Older Adults
Published on: November 7, 2014
Development and validation of a low-cost, portable and wireless gait assessment tool
Catherine A Macleod1, Bernard A Conway1, David B Allan2
1Biomedical Engineering, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, UK; Scottish Centre for Innovation in Spinal Cord Injury (SCISCI), Queen Elizabeth National Spinal Injuries Unit, Southern General Hospital, Glasgow, UK.
Background:
Performing gait analysis in a clinical setting can often be challenging due to time, cost and the availability of sophisticated three-dimensional (3D) gait analysis systems. This study has developed and tested a portable wireless gait assessment tool (wi-GAT) to address these challenges.
Aim:
To investigate the concurrent validity of the wi-GAT in measuring spatio-temporal gait parameters such as stride length, stride duration, cadence, double support time (DST), stance and swing time compared to a 3D Vicon motion analysis system.
Methods:
Ten healthy volunteers participated in the study (age range 23-30 years). Spatio-temporal gait parameters were recorded simultaneously by the Vicon and the wi-GAT systems as each subject walked at their self-selected speed.
Results:
The stride length and duration, cadence, stance duration and walking speed recorded using the wi-GAT showed strong agreement with those same parameters recorded by the Vicon (ICC of 0.94-0.996). A difference between the systems in registering "toe off" resulted in less agreement (ICC of 0.299-0.847) in gait parameters such as %stance and %swing and DST.
Discussion And Conclusion:
The study demonstrated good concurrent validity for the wi-GAT system. The wi-GAT has the potential to be a useful assessment tool for clinicians.
