Concurrent related validity of the GAITRite® walkway system for quantification of the spatial and temporal parameters of gait

The GAITRite® is a portable gait analysis tool for automated measurement of spatiotemporal gait parameters. Although frequently used for clinical and research purposes, the concurrent validity of GAITRite® has not been validated against a criterion measure. The aim of this experiment was to investigate the concurrent validity and test retest reliability of the GAITRite® carpet walkway system for quantification of spatial and temporal parameters of the footstep pattern. Twenty-five healthy adults aged 21–71 years (mean 40.5 years, S.D. 17.2) performed three walk trials at self-selected pace, three at fast pace and three at slow pace. For each trial, data were simultaneously collected from the GAITRite® and a Clinical Stride Analyzer®, which has established reliability and validity. At preferred, slow and fast walking pace there were very high correlations between the two measurement systems for gait speed (ICC (2,1)=0.99), stride length (ICC (2,1)=0.99) and cadence (ICC (2,1)=0.99). Correlations between the electronic carpet and the stride analyser were moderate to high for single limb support (SLS) time (ICC (2,1)=0.69–0.91) and weak for the proportion of the gait cycle spent in double limb support (ICC (2,1)=0.44–0.57). The reliability of repeated measures for the GAITRite® was good at preferred and fast speed for speed (ICC (3,1)=0.93–0.94), cadence (ICC (3,1)=0.92–0.94), stride length (ICC (3,1)=0.97), single support (ICC (3,1)=0.85–0.93) and the proportion of the gait cycle spent in double limb support (ICC (3,1)=0.89–0.92). The repeatability of the GAITRite® measures were more variable at slow speed (ICC (3,1)=0.76–0.91). These results indicate that the GAITRite® system has strong concurrent validity and test retest reliability, in addition to being a portable, simple clinical tool for the objective assessment of gait.