Recognition of gait impairment evaluated using an artificial gait stimuli

This paper describes experiments to understand how well individuals can recognize an impaired walking pattern. The gait patterns are generated using a passive dynamic walker (PDW) model to allow a systematic change in gait patterns. The changed gait parameters include gait cadence, knee height asymmetry, step length and step time asymmetry, roll-over-shape (ROS) asymmetry, and knee damping asymmetry. Twenty participants rated twenty-four unimpaired and impaired walking patterns on a 7-point Likert scale. Results revealed that although a walking pattern may deviate dynamically from normal, there is a quantifiable range of gait impairments that may be dismissed as unimpaired. Particularly, we found that a knee height asymmetry range of roughly +10% (up) and -20%, could be dismissed as unimpaired. Findings show that the impairment perception of a damped knee joint can be countered by attaching a mass to the opposite lower limb.