Abstract
BackgroundGait analysis and research have been developed to obtain characteristics of movement patterns of people while walking. However, traditional measuring systems present different drawbacks that reduce their use and application. Among those drawbacks one can find: high price, low sampling frequency and limiting number of steps to be analyzed. Traditional measuring gait systems carry out their measurement at frequencies oscillating between 60 to 100 Hz. It can be argued about the need of higher sampling rates for gait measurements. However small displacements of the knee or hip for example, cannot be seen with low frequencies required a more detailed sampling and higher frequency sampling. Bearing this in mind, in this paper is presented a 250 Hz system based on accelerometers for gait measurement, and the particularities of knee and hip angles during gait are highlighted.MethodsThe system was designed with a PCI data acquisition card instrumented with an FPGA to achieve a rate sample of 250 Hz. The accelerometers were placed in thighs and legs to calculate the joint angles of hip and knee in the sagittal plane. The angles were estimated using the acceleration polygon method without integrating the acceleration and without filters.ResultsThe gait of thirty healthy people of Mexican phenotype was analyzed over a flat floor free of obstacles. The results showed the gait phases and particularities associated with the walking style and people's laterality; the movement patterns were similar in the thirty persons. Based on the results, the particularities as the maximum amplitude in the angles and the shape in the movement patterns were related to the anthropometry and people phenotype.ConclusionsThe sampling frequency was essential to record 340 samples in single gait cycle and so registering the gait cycle with its particularities. In this work were recorded an average of 8 to 10 gait cycles, and the results showed variation regarding works carried out in biomechanics laboratories; this variation was related to the method and reference frame used to obtain the joint angles and the accuracy of measurement system.
Highlights
Gait analysis and research have been developed to obtain characteristics of movement patterns of people while walking
This paper presents the characterization of one gait cycle obtained from a measurement system developed with accelerometers
Some research about gait analysis have reported the joint angles of knee and hip in gait cycle, but these have not described the characterization of events and phases in gait cycle [9,14,19,26]
Summary
Gait analysis and research have been developed to obtain characteristics of movement patterns of people while walking. In the last two decades technological advances have allowed to develop new biomechanics laboratories which are instrumented with camera systems, force platforms and electromyography systems These laboratories permit to estimate: the kinematics of the lower extremities in 2D and 3D, ground reaction forces, and muscle activity at each step [2,3]. In these laboratories some patterns have been established to describe the movement of the lower limb joints during the gait cycle [4,5,6,7,8]. Biomechanical laboratories have some disadvantages such as: 1) the camera systems are expensive and need complex instrumentation and environment setting, 2) the number of steps that are analyzed are few because the analysis area in the laboratory is limited by the number of cameras and the force plates [2,14,15,16]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
