Article

In the last decade, various methods for the estimation of gait events and
temporal parameters from the acceleration signals of a single inertial
measurement unit (IMU) mounted at waist level have been proposed. Despite the
growing interest for such methodologies, a thorough comparative analysis of
methods with regards to number of extra and missed events, accuracy and
robustness to IMU location is still missing in the literature. The aim of this
work was to fill this gap. Five methods have been tested on single IMU data
acquired from fourteen healthy subjects walking while being recorded by a
stereo-photogrammetric system and two force platforms. The sensitivity in
detecting initial and final contacts varied between 81% and 100% across methods,
whereas the positive predictive values ranged between 94% and 100%. For all
tested methods, stride and step time estimates were obtained; three of the
selected methods also allowed estimation of stance, swing and double support
time. Results showed that the accuracy in estimating step and stride durations
was acceptable for all methods. Conversely, a statistical difference was found in
the error in estimating stance, swing and double support time, due to the larger
errors in the final contact determination. Except for one method, the IMU
positioning on the lower trunk did not represent a critical factor for the
estimation of gait temporal parameters. Results obtained in this study may not be
applicable to pathologic gait.
CI - Copyright (c) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Langue : ANGLAIS