TY - JOUR

T1 - Dual Mode Gait Sonification for Rehabilitation After Unilateral Hip Arthroplasty

AU - Reh, Julia

AU - Hwang, Tong-Hun

AU - Schmitz, Gerd

AU - Effenberg, Alfred O.

N1 - Funding information: This research was funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Energie, BMWi), grant number KF2558304LW4. The APC was funded by the Open Access Fund of the Leibniz Universität Hannover.

PY - 2019/3

Y1 - 2019/3

N2 - The pattern of gait after hip arthroplasty strongly affects regeneration and quality of life. Acoustic feedback could be a supportive method for patients to improve their walking ability and to regain a symmetric and steady gait. In this study, a new gait sonification method with two different modes—real-time feedback (RTF) and instructive model sequences (IMS)—is presented. The impact of the method on gait symmetry and steadiness of 20 hip arthroplasty patients was investigated. Patients were either assigned to a sonification group (SG) (n = 10) or a control group (CG) (n = 10). All of them performed 10 gait training sessions (TS) lasting 20 min, in which kinematic data were measured using an inertial sensor system. Results demonstrate converging step lengths of the affected and unaffected leg over time in SG compared with a nearly parallel development of both legs in CG. Within the SG, a higher variability of stride length and stride time was found during the RTF training mode in comparison to the IMS mode. Therefore, the presented dual mode method provides the potential to support gait rehabilitation as well as home-based gait training of orthopedic patients with various restrictions.

AB - The pattern of gait after hip arthroplasty strongly affects regeneration and quality of life. Acoustic feedback could be a supportive method for patients to improve their walking ability and to regain a symmetric and steady gait. In this study, a new gait sonification method with two different modes—real-time feedback (RTF) and instructive model sequences (IMS)—is presented. The impact of the method on gait symmetry and steadiness of 20 hip arthroplasty patients was investigated. Patients were either assigned to a sonification group (SG) (n = 10) or a control group (CG) (n = 10). All of them performed 10 gait training sessions (TS) lasting 20 min, in which kinematic data were measured using an inertial sensor system. Results demonstrate converging step lengths of the affected and unaffected leg over time in SG compared with a nearly parallel development of both legs in CG. Within the SG, a higher variability of stride length and stride time was found during the RTF training mode in comparison to the IMS mode. Therefore, the presented dual mode method provides the potential to support gait rehabilitation as well as home-based gait training of orthopedic patients with various restrictions.

KW - Acoustic feedback

KW - Acoustic model

KW - Gait sonification

KW - Hip arthroplasty

KW - Motor relearning

KW - Real-time sonification

KW - Rehabilitation

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85067612443&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.3390/brainsci9030066

DO - 10.3390/brainsci9030066

M3 - Article

VL - 9

JO - Brain Sciences

JF - Brain Sciences

IS - 3

M1 - 66

ER -