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Updated: Apr 25, 2026
Clinical Assessment of Spatiotemporal Gait Parameters in Patients and Older Adults
Published on: November 7, 2014
Comparison of programs for determining temporal-spatial gait variables from instrumented walkway data: PKmas versus
Thorlene Egerton1, Pernille Thingstad, Jorunn L Helbostad
1Department of Neuroscience, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway. thor@sutmap.com.
Background:
Measurement of temporal-spatial gait variables is common in aging research with several methods available. This study investigated the differences in temporal-spatial gait outcomes derived from two different programs for processing instrumented walkway data.
Method:
Data were collected with GAITRite® hardware from 86 healthy older people and 44 older people four months following surgical repair of hip fracture. Temporal-spatial variables were derived using both GAITRite® and PKmas® processing programs from the same raw footfall data.
Results:
The mean differences between the two programs for most variables were negligible, including for Speed (mean difference 0.3 ± 0.6 cm/sec, or 0.3% of the mean GAITRite® Speed). The mean absolute percentage difference for all 18 gait variables examined ranged from 0.04% for Stride Duration to 66% for Foot Angle. The ICCs were almost perfect (≥0.99) for all variables apart from Base Width, Foot Angle, Stride Length Variability, Step Length Variability, Step Duration Variability and Step Width Variability, which were all never-the-less above 0.84. There were systematic differences for Base Width (PKmas® values 1.6 cm lower than GAITRite®) and Foot Angle (PKMAS® values 0.7° higher than GAITRite®). The differences can be explained by the differences in definitions and calculations between the programs.
Conclusions:
The study demonstrated that for most variables the outcomes from both programs can be used interchangeably for evaluation of gait among older people collected with GAITRite® hardware. However, validity and reliability for Base Width and Foot Angle derived by PKMAS® would benefit from further investigation.
