A real-time multispectral computer vision system for morpho-thermal analysis of footprint plantar

Abstract

Physical Rehabilitation processes in amputees, especially those immersed in post-conflict policies of the Colombian government, requires, among other things, a full comprehensive biomechanical and clinical study of high quality. Generally, this comprehensive study includes kinetic, kinematic, dynamic analysis, electromyography and thermal and morphological podiatric assessment. Research and technological development around the first four tests have been rapidly so hardware and software tools are flooding the current market. However, podiatric assessment has been a little behind in this aspect, since many clinics and rehabilitation centers prefer conventional methods for footprint plantar analysis, which are invasive, slow, tedious, subjective and poor in visualization. In this work, two new methodologies for obtaining thermal and morphological parameters of the footprint plantar from thermopedographies and podoscopies are proposed respectively. To achieve this, common elements in algorithms for footprint plantar analysis based on image are identified and computer vision techniques are proposed in each case to automate and systematize the whole process. As a result, a computer-assisted with a friendly graphical interface allows a non-expert user obtain and quickly visualize morphological and thermal parameters of the footprint plantar. Some diabetic and non-diabetic patients are analyzed and fusion of morphological and thermal information demonstrates to be a powerful tool for podological diagnosis.