The Accuracy and Precision of Gait Spatio-Temporal Parameters Extracted from an Instrumented Sock during Treadmill and Overground Walking in Healthy Subjects and Patients with a Foot Impairment Secondary to Psoriatic Arthritis.

Roua Walha,Pierre Dagenais,Karina Lebel,Nathaly Gaudreault,Andrea Cereatti,Patrick Boissy,Ugo Della Croce

doi:10.3390/s21186179

Abstract

The objectives of this study were to assess the accuracy and precision of a system combining an IMU-instrumented sock and a validated algorithm for the estimation of the spatio-temporal parameters of gait. A total of 25 healthy participants (HP) and 21 patients with foot impairments secondary to psoriatic arthritis (PsA) performed treadmill walking at three different speeds and overground walking at a comfortable speed. HP performed the assessment over two sessions. The proposed system’s estimations of cadence (CAD), gait cycle duration (GCD), gait speed (GS), and stride length (SL) obtained for treadmill walking were validated versus those estimated with a motion capture system. The system was also compared with a well-established multi-IMU-based system for treadmill and overground walking. The results showed a good agreement between the motion capture system and the IMU-instrumented sock in estimating the spatio-temporal parameters during the treadmill walking at normal and fast speeds for both HP and PsA participants. The accuracy of GS and SL obtained from the IMU-instrumented sock was better compared to the established multi-IMU-based system in both groups. The precision (inter-session reliability) of the gait parameter estimations obtained from the IMU-instrumented sock was good to excellent for overground walking and treadmill walking at fast speeds, but moderate-to-good for slow and normal treadmill walking. The proposed IMU-instrumented sock offers a novel form factor addressing the wearability issues of IMUs and could potentially be used to measure spatio-temporal parameters under clinical conditions and free-living conditions.

Highlights

gait cycle duration (GCD), gait speed (GS), and stride length (SL) estimated with the TEADRIP algorithm applied to the Inertial Measurement Units (IMUs)-instrumented sock and those estimated with the Mobility Lab system for overground walking were statistically different between the groups (Table 1)
psoriatic arthritis (PsA) patients had a lower CAD, GS, and SL and a higher GCD compared to the healthy participants (p < 0.05)
We proposed a system to determine the spatio-temporal parameters of gait based on an easy-to-use non-cumbersome sock system that could be worn with all shoe types

Summary

Introduction

Antalgic gait strategies may appear and disrupt the cyclical and symmetric process of normal gait. In such cases, an objective gait analysis enables clinicians and researchers to monitor disease progression 4.0/). The main spatio-temporal parameters including stance, swing, and stride duration, named gait cycle duration (GCD), cadence (CAD), stride length (SL), and gait speed (GS) are important clinical outcomes as they allow the functional status to be described and adverse health outcomes to be predicted [1]. A reduced GS is associated with functional independence [2] and is used as a screening tool for foot pain [3]

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion