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Methods for Evaluating Tibial Accelerations and Spatiotemporal Gait Parameters during Unsupervised Outdoor Movement
Amy Silder1, Ethan J Wong1,2, Brian Green1,2
1Naval Health Research Center, San Diego, CA 92106-3521, USA.
Sensors (Basel, Switzerland)
|October 26, 2024
Summary
This study presents a method to measure gait, acceleration, and heart rate alongside terrain features using GPS and IMUs. The approach simplifies data collection for large groups during outdoor activities like hiking.
Area of Science:
- Biomechanics
- Human Movement Science
- Geospatial Analysis
Background:
- Accurate measurement of gait and physiological responses during physical activity is crucial for understanding human performance and injury risk.
- Integrating environmental factors like terrain is essential for ecological validity in human movement studies.
- Existing methods often require complex synchronization or are limited in scalability for large-scale field studies.
Purpose of the Study:
- To introduce a novel, streamlined method for measuring spatiotemporal gait patterns, tibial accelerations, and heart rate.
- To synchronize these physiological and kinematic measures with high-resolution geographical terrain features.
- To demonstrate the method's efficacy using publicly available data from a large cohort during loaded ruck marches.
Main Methods:
- Utilized inertial measurement units (IMUs) and GPS watches on 218 participants during outdoor ruck hikes.
- Developed custom code for sensor data synchronization, IMU calibration, and gait phase detection (walking/running).
- Georeferenced GPS data with Geographic Information System (GIS) maps to extract terrain variables (slope, altitude, surface conditions).
Main Results:
- Successfully synchronized high-resolution gait, acceleration, and heart rate data with detailed terrain features.
- Demonstrated automated data processing for efficient analysis of large datasets.
- Validated the method's applicability across diverse terrain conditions and loaded conditions.
Conclusions:
- The presented method offers a practical and scalable approach for collecting detailed biomechanical and physiological data during real-world activities.
- This methodology facilitates the analysis of how terrain influences human locomotion and performance.
- The approach is adaptable to various populations and ground-based activities, including skiing and trail running.
