Asymmetric Gait Analysis Using a DTW Algorithm with Combined Gyroscope and Pressure Sensor.

Yeon-Keun Jeong,Kwang-Ryul Baek

doi:10.3390/s21113750

Abstract

Walking is one of the most basic human activities. Various diseases may be caused by abnormal walking, and abnormal walking is mostly caused by disease. There are various characteristics of abnormal walking, but in general, it can be judged as asymmetric walking. Generally, spatiotemporal parameters can be used to determine asymmetric walking. The spatiotemporal parameter has the disadvantage that it does not consider the influence of the diversity of patterns and the walking speed. Therefore, in this paper, we propose a method to analyze asymmetric walking using Dynamic Time Warping (DTW) distance, a time series analysis method. The DTW distance was obtained by combining gyroscope data and pressure data. The experiment was carried out by performing symmetrical walking and asymmetrical walking, and asymmetric walking was performed as a simulation of hemiplegic walking by fixing one ankle using an auxiliary device. The proposed method was compared with the existing asymmetric gait analysis method. As a result of the experiment, a p-value lower than 0.05 was obtained, which proved that there was a statistically significant difference.

Highlights

Gyroscope and Pressure Sensor.Walking is a basic activity for all human beings and is an intuitive element for assessing health and quality of life
The method proposed in this paper analyzes time series data that combines gyroscope data and pressure data and proposes parameters for asymmetric walking
Data was acquired by attaching a gyroscope sensor in front of the shoe and a pressure sensor on the insole

Summary

Introduction

Gyroscope and Pressure Sensor.Walking is a basic activity for all human beings and is an intuitive element for assessing health and quality of life. A normal gait leads to a healthy life, but an abnormal gait can worsen health. An abnormal gait can occur due to various diseases. By monitoring and evaluating gait, physicians can identify health conditions and predict various diseases. Gait as an indicator can help with the prediction of a disease and with the degree of improvement in disease recovery or physical rehabilitation [1]. In hospital practice through the 6-Minutes Walking Test (6MWT), a doctor directly observes the number of steps, the walking time, and distance to determine disease progression or the degree of rehabilitation [2]. Among the methods for evaluating an abnormal gait, a method for determining asymmetry in gait is typically used [3]

Methods

Results

Conclusion