TY - JOUR

T1 - Measuring highly accurate foot position and angle trajectories with foot-mounted IMUs in clinical practice

AU - Jocham, Andreas J.

AU - Laidig, Daniel

AU - Guggenberger, Bernhard

AU - Seel, Thomas

N1 - Funding information: The authors would like to thank all participants for their participation in the study.

PY - 2024/2

Y1 - 2024/2

N2 - Background: Gait analysis using foot-mounted IMUs is a promising method to acquire gait parameters outside of laboratory settings and in everyday clinical practice. However, the need for precise sensor attachment or calibration, the requirement of environments with a homogeneous magnetic field, and the limited applicability to pathological gait patterns still pose challenges. Furthermore, in previously published work, the measurement accuracy of such systems is often only validated for specific points in time or in a single plane. Research question: This study investigates the measurement accuracy of a gait analysis method based on foot-mounted IMUs in the acquisition of the foot motion, i.e., position and angle trajectories of the foot in the sagittal, frontal, and transversal plane over the entire gait cycle. Results: A comparison of the proposed method with an optical motion capture system showed an average RMSE of 0.67° for pitch, 0.63° for roll and 1.17° for yaw. For position trajectories, an average RMSE of 0.51 cm for vertical lift and 0.34 cm for lateral shift was found. The measurement error of the IMU-based method is found to be much smaller than the deviations caused by the shoes. Significance: The proposed method is found to be sufficiently accurate for clinical practice. It does not require precise mounting, special calibration movements, or magnetometer data, and shows no difference in measurement accuracy between normal and pathological gait. Therefore, it provides an easy-to-use alternative to optical motion capture and facilitates gait analysis independent of laboratory settings.

AB - Background: Gait analysis using foot-mounted IMUs is a promising method to acquire gait parameters outside of laboratory settings and in everyday clinical practice. However, the need for precise sensor attachment or calibration, the requirement of environments with a homogeneous magnetic field, and the limited applicability to pathological gait patterns still pose challenges. Furthermore, in previously published work, the measurement accuracy of such systems is often only validated for specific points in time or in a single plane. Research question: This study investigates the measurement accuracy of a gait analysis method based on foot-mounted IMUs in the acquisition of the foot motion, i.e., position and angle trajectories of the foot in the sagittal, frontal, and transversal plane over the entire gait cycle. Results: A comparison of the proposed method with an optical motion capture system showed an average RMSE of 0.67° for pitch, 0.63° for roll and 1.17° for yaw. For position trajectories, an average RMSE of 0.51 cm for vertical lift and 0.34 cm for lateral shift was found. The measurement error of the IMU-based method is found to be much smaller than the deviations caused by the shoes. Significance: The proposed method is found to be sufficiently accurate for clinical practice. It does not require precise mounting, special calibration movements, or magnetometer data, and shows no difference in measurement accuracy between normal and pathological gait. Therefore, it provides an easy-to-use alternative to optical motion capture and facilitates gait analysis independent of laboratory settings.

KW - Digital health

KW - Foot motion estimation

KW - Foot-mounted

KW - Gait assessment

KW - Inertial sensor

KW - Wearable sensor systems

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85178257392&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.gaitpost.2023.11.002

DO - 10.1016/j.gaitpost.2023.11.002

M3 - Article

C2 - 37988888

AN - SCOPUS:85178257392

VL - 108

SP - 63

EP - 69

JO - Gait and Posture

JF - Gait and Posture

SN - 0966-6362

ER -