A portable, real-time, clinical gait velocity analysis system

Author

Weir, Richard F. ; Childress, Dudley S.

Author_Institution

Northwestern Univ. Rehabilitation Eng. Res. Center, Chicago, IL, USA

Volume

5

Issue

4

fYear

1997

fDate

12/1/1997 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

310

Lastpage

321

Abstract

A direct ultrasound ranging system (DURS) has been developed for the quantitative evaluation of gait velocity. DURS consists of a transponder worn by the subject, a base unit infrared (IR) emitter/ultrasound (US) receiver, and a laptop computer. During gait analysis the transponder is worn by the subject at the approximate level of the body center of mass. As the subject walks away from the base unit his or her forward progression is displayed in real-time on the computer. At the end of the walking trial the instantaneous velocity profile, or gait velocigram (GVG), for that trial is displayed on the computer screen. From the GVG, parameters such as, gait speed, cadence, step length, step time, peak-to-peak variation, and time to achieve steady state walking are calculated and displayed. In addition gait deviations are readily apparent on the GVG

Keywords

acoustic signal processing; biomechanics; biomedical ultrasonics; distance measurement; medical signal processing; ultrasonic velocity measurement; ambulation; base unit infrared emitter/ultrasound receiver; cadence; direct ultrasound ranging system; gait deviations; gait pathology; gait speed; gait velocigram; laptop computer; locomotion; peak-to-peak variation; portable real-time clinical gait velocity analysis system; steady state walking; step length; step time; transponder; ultrasound distance measurement; ultrasound ranging; Computer displays; Leg; Legged locomotion; Prosthetics; Real time systems; Senior citizens; Steady-state; Transponders; Ultrasonic imaging; Velocity measurement;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Rehabilitation Engineering, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1063-6528

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/86.650284

Filename

650284