Clinical gait assessment of older adults using open platform tools

Gait impairment is associated with increased falls risk. The gait of 321 community dwelling elderly adults was assessed using the TRIL Gait Analysis Platform (GAP), which was specially designed for ease of use in a research clinic setting by non-experts. The GAP featured body-worn kinematic sensors, a pressure sensitive electronic walkway, and two orthogonally mounted web cameras, and was developed using open platform tools. This flexible platform was applied to objectively measure gait parameters in different gait assessments. The results from the 6 meter walk assessment are presented here. In this assessment, participants were categorized by clinical falls history as ‘fallers’ or ‘non-fallers’. Temporal and spatial gait parameters were examined. Significant differences in spatial parameters were observed when fallers and non-fallers were compared. Temporal parameters were found to differ, though not significantly.