Now showing 1 - 8 of 8
  • Publication
    The use of SHIMMER to detect stride time in running gait
    Wireless sensing solutions that provide for accurate long term monitoring of walking and running stride characteristics in a real world environment would be an excellent tool for biomechanics researchers. SHIMMER™ is a small, wireless, low-power inertial sensor with a large storage capacity that facilitates wearable wireless sensing in both connected and disconnected modes. It is a very flexible, multi-sensing device, consisting of a tri-axial accelerometer, with options of add-on daughter boards such as tri-axial gyropscopes, or ECG/EMG sensors. The purpose of this study was to compare the performance of the SHIMMER wireless sensor platform for the determination of heel-strike and stride times, across a range of speeds, to a marker-based motion capture system (CODA, Charnwood Dynamics, UK). Previous studies have shown that the SHIMMER sensor and associated algorithms can successfully calculate these parameters in slow to fast walking speeds, but it has not yet been applied to running.
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  • Publication
    Sensor-based Assessment of Falls Risk of the Timed Up and Go in Real-World Settings
    Falls are the leading cause of older adult injury and cost $50bn annually. New digital technologies can quantitatively measure falls risk. Objective is to report on a validated wearable sensor-based Timed Up and Go (QTUG) assessment detailing 11 measures of falls risk, frailty and mobility impairment in older adults in six countries in 38 clinical and community settings.
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  • Publication
    Short Bouts of Gait Data and Body-Worn Inertial Sensors Can Provide Reliable Measures of Spatiotemporal Gait Parameters from Bilateral Gait Data for Persons with Multiple Sclerosis
    Background: Wearable devices equipped with inertial sensors enable objective gait assessment for persons with multiple sclerosis (MS), with potential use in ambulatory care or home and community-based assessments. However, gaitdata collected in non-controlled settings is often fragmented and may not provide enough information forreliable measures. We evaluate a novel approach, extracting pre-defined numbers of gait cycles from the fulllength of a walking task, and their effects on the reliability of spatiotemporal gait parameters. Methods: The present study evaluates intra-session reliability of spatiotemporal gait parameters for short bouts of gaitdata extracted from the full length of the walking tasks to 1) determine the effects of the length of the walkingtask on the reliability of calculated measures and 2) identify spatiotemporal gait parameters that can providereliable measures for gait assessments and reference data in different settings. Thirty-seven participants (37) diagnosed with relapsing-remitting MS (EDSS rage 0 to 4.5) executed two trials,walking 20m each, with inertial sensors attached to their right and left shanks. Previously published algorithms were applied to identify gait events from the medio-lateral angular velocity. Short bouts of gait data wereextracted from each trial, with lengths varying from 3 to 9 gait cycles. Twenty-one measures of spatiotemporalgait parameters were calculated. Intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) were calculated to evaluate how the degree of agreement between the two trials of each participant varied with the number of gait cycles included inthe analysis. Results: Spatiotemporal gait parameters calculated as the mean across included gait cycles reach excellent reliabilityfrom three gait cycles. Stride time variability and asymmetry, as well as stride velocity variability and asymmetry, reach good reliability from six gait cycles and should be further explored for persons with MS, whilestride time asymmetry and step time asymmetry do not seem to provide reliable measures and should bereported carefully. Conclusion: Short bouts of gait data, including at least six gait cycles of bilateral data, can provide reliable gait measurements for persons with MS, opening new perspectives for gait assessment using wearable devices in non-controlled environments, to support monitoring of symptoms of persons with neurological diseases.
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  • Publication
    Digital assessment of falls risk, frailty, and mobility impairment using wearable sensors
    Falls are among the most frequent and costly population health issues, costing $50bn each year in the US. In current clinical practice, falls (and associated fall risk) are often self-reported after the “first fall”, delaying primary prevention of falls and development of targeted fall prevention interventions. Current methods for assessing falls risk can be subjective, inaccurate, have low inter-rater reliability, and do not address factors contributing to falls (poor balance, gait speed, transfers, turning). 8521 participants (72.7 ± 12.0 years, 5392 female) from six countries were assessed using a digital falls risk assessment protocol. Data consisted of wearable sensor data captured during the Timed Up and Go (TUG) test along with self-reported questionnaire data on falls risk factors, applied to previously trained and validated classifier models. We found that 25.8% of patients reported a fall in the previous 12 months, of the 74.6% of participants that had not reported a fall, 21.5% were found to have a high predicted risk of falls. Overall 26.2% of patients were predicted to be at high risk of falls. 29.8% of participants were found to have slow walking speed, while 19.8% had high gait variability and 17.5% had problems with transfers. We report an observational study of results obtained from a novel digital fall risk assessment protocol. This protocol is intended to support the early identification of older adults at risk of falls and inform the creation of appropriate personalized interventions to prevent falls. A population-based approach to management of falls using objective measures of falls risk and mobility impairment, may help reduce unnecessary outpatient and emergency department utilization by improving risk prediction and stratification, driving more patients towards clinical and community-based falls prevention activities.
      309Scopus© Citations 28
  • Publication
    Longitudinal assessment of falls in patients with Parkinson’s disease using inertial sensors and the Timed Up and Go test
    Objective: To examine the predictive validity of a TUG test for falls risk, quantified using body-worn sensors (QTUG) in people with Parkinsons Disease (PD). We also sought to examine the inter-session reliability of QTUG sensor measures and their association with the Unified Parkinsons Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS) motor score. Approach: A six-month longitudinal study of 15 patients with Parkinsons disease. Participants were asked to complete a weekly diary recording any falls activity for six months following baseline assessment. Participants were assessed monthly, using a Timed Up and Go test, quantified using body-worn sensors, placed on each leg below the knee. Main results: The results suggest that the QTUG falls risk estimate recorded at baseline is 73.33% (44.90, 92.21)accurate in predicting falls within 90 days, while the Timed Up and Go time at baseline was 46.67% (21.27, 73.41)accurate. The Timed Up and Go time and QTUG falls risk estimate were strongly correlated with UPDRS motor score. Fifty-two of 59 inertial sensor parameters exhibited excellent inter-session reliability, five exhibited moderate reliability, while two parameters exhibited poor reliability. Significance: The results suggest that QTUG is a reliable tool for the assessment of gait and mobility in Parkinsons disease and, furthermore, that it may have utility in predicting falls in patients with Parkinsons disease.
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  • Publication
    Investigating normal day to day variations in postural control in a healthy young population (age 18-40) using wii balance boards
    Objective me asurements of postural control are frequently used to examine the causes of, features associated with, and therapeutic interventions for ankle instability. However, researchers have typically used single-session measures to represent postural control at one point in time. Recent studies in a healthy elderly population demonstrate significant variations in day-to-day postural control and suggest that single-session measurement may not truly reflect postural control capabilities. An investigation into patterns of day-to-day variation in postural control in a younger population are warranted.
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  • Publication
    Investigating normal day to day variations of postural control in a healthy young population using Wii balance boards
    The quantification of postural control (PC) provides the opportunity to understand the function and integration of the sensorimotor subsystem. The increased availability of portable sensing technology, such as Wii Balance Boards (WBB), has afforded the capacity to capture data pertaining to motor function, outside of the laboratory and clinical setting. However, prior to its use in long-term monitoring, it is crucial to understand natural daily PC variation. Twenty-four young adults conducted repeated static PC assessments over 20 consecutive weekdays, using WBBs. 16/24 participants (eyes open) and 11/24 participants (eyes closed) exhibited statistically significant differences (p <0.05) between their initial ‘once-off’ measure and their daily measures of PC. This study showed that variations in PC exist in a healthy population, a once-off measure may not be representative of true performance and this inherent variation should be considered when implementing long-term monitoring protocols.
    Scopus© Citations 1  435
  • Publication
    How Many Steps to Represent Individual Gait?
    Assessing and reproducing user's mobility has multiple purposes for interactive systems. In particular, the quantification of gait parameters has been used for user modelling, virtual environments, and augmented reality. While many technologies can be used to assess gait, measuring spatio-temporal parameters and their fluctuations, it is important to evaluate how many steps are necessary to represent the gait pattern of an individual, in order to provide better feedback to the user and improve user experience. In this preliminary study, we evaluate the intra-session reliability of spatio-temporal gait parameters for 24 healthy adults walking two trials of 15m in a corridor. Angular velocity data were acquired from body-worn inertial measurement units attached to participants' right and left shanks. An adaptive algorithm was applied for gait event detection, and gait parameters were analyzed according to pre-defined numbers of steps extracted from the full length of the trial. The main contribution of the present analysis is to present a method of gait event detection, segmentation and analysis that can be used for adjusting interactive systems to individual users.
      215Scopus© Citations 3