Wireless system opens door to rapid, low cost gait analysis
1 min read
A new device that allows rapid and easy analysis of a patient's gait has been developed by researchers in Oxford. The innovation allows any healthcare clinic to access information previously only available in specialist laboratories and at a fraction of the cost per patient. A team from Oxford Brookes University says that the DataGait sensor and software package can provide information on conditions from Parkinson's to arthritis within 15minutes. Measurements include step time, length and variability, cadence, walking speed and symmetry and energy usage.
The device incorporates a wireless motion sensor called an inertial measurement unit (IMU) which a patient wears on the lower back at the body's projected centre of mass. To achieve laboratory standard performance, the wireless motion sensor in DataGait incorporates accelerometers, gyroscopes and magnetometers. Combined, these give accurate measurements of acceleration, velocity, position and orientation.
The patient walks about 10metres, stops, and then walks back. The IMU transmits data wirelessly to a laptop supplied as part of the package or to the customer's own computer. The data is then subject to analysis by a software package developed by Oxford Brookes University and which has enabled the accuracy previously achieved with motion sensors to be significantly improved.
The DataGait innovation can be used to detect subtle changes in gait and help at an early stage to evaluate patients, as well as providing longer term monitoring of mobility deficits. According to Dr Max Feltham, a research fellow within Oxford Brookes' Movement Science Group, when validated against an optical motion capture system it was found to produce statistically indistinguishable data for healthy patients and also for patients suffering from Parkinson's Disease. ""DataGait was developed in response to a need for accurate gait measurements when assessing a large number of people with and without motor impairments," said Dr Feltham. "We have found DataGait to be much quicker to use but as valid and reliable as the gold standard optical motion capture system used in specialised gait laboratories. We are very excited that our system will propel gait as a medical indicator for the wider research and clinical community."
