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Kinect v2 based system for gait assessment of children with cerebral palsy in rehabilitation settings
Caue Conterno Barreira1, Arturo Forner-Cordero1, Patricia Moreno Grangeiro2
1Escola Politecnica da USP, Universidade de Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Insights
A new, low-cost Kinect v2 sensor system effectively analyzes gait in children with cerebral palsy (CP). This portable technology provides accurate gait parameter data, improving rehabilitation accessibility for children with motor disabilities.
Area of Science:
- Biomedical Engineering
- Rehabilitation Science
- Pediatric Neurology
Background:
- Cerebral palsy (CP) is a leading cause of childhood motor disability, characterized by gait limitations despite mobility.
- Effective rehabilitation relies on gait analysis, but current systems are costly and complex.
- Accessible, low-cost gait analysis tools are needed to improve CP treatment.
Purpose of the Study:
- To validate a novel, low-cost Kinect v2 sensor system for gait analysis in children with cerebral palsy (CP).
- To assess the system's ability to capture and analyze gait parameters in pediatric CP patients with varying motor function levels.
Main Methods:
- Developed a portable, user-friendly gait analysis system using the Kinect v2 sensor.
- Recorded gait parameters of eleven children with CP (GMFCS levels II-III) walking on a flat surface.
- Validated the Kinect system's data against traditional video-recording methods.
Main Results:
- The Kinect-based system demonstrated comparable results to video analysis for gait parameter capture.
- The system proved effective even for GMFCS III patients with significant gait variability and abnormal patterns.
- The low-cost, unobtrusive nature of the Kinect system enhances accessibility for gait analysis in CP populations.
Conclusions:
- The developed Kinect v2 system offers a cost-effective and accessible solution for gait analysis in children with cerebral palsy.
- This technology has the potential to significantly improve rehabilitation strategies by providing unobtrusive, detailed gait insights.
- Further research can explore its application across broader CP classifications and diverse clinical settings.
Abstract:
Cerebral palsy (CP) describes a group of disorders of movement, posture and balance caused by a non-progressive brain injury in the immature brain. It is the most prevalent cause of chronic motor disability in childhood, and although two thirds of CP children are able to walk, they show gait limitations. In this context, rehabilitation therapy can improve muscle balance and gait. Previous studies showed the importance of gait analysis as part of multidisciplinary tools for effective rehabilitation treatment. However, the high cost and the infrastructure required for the implementation of commercial gait analysis systems as well as the time-consuming preparation procedures, limit the access to this service. A low cost, non-restrictive, portable and of simple operation and installation system was developed based on Kinect v2 sensor. This study aims to validate it for capturing and analysing gait parameters in children with cerebral palsy. Several gait parameters from eleven CP patients with different levels of disability classified as a function of the Gross Motor Function Classification System (GMFCS) from II to III were recorded while they walked on a flat surface. The Kinect-based gait analysis system was compared with video-recording that yielded the same results. These results show the potential of Kinect to analyse gait in frail patient populations unobtrusively and with very low cost. More importantly, regarding to spatial parameters, the Kinect system was useful even for the worst case of GMFCS III that show a large gait variability with abnormal patterns.
