Comparing the Head and Trunk Accelerations during a free walk using MTx sensors

Clinical gait assessment in a gait laboratory is one of the ways to monitor the gait accurately. However, for those subjects where the gait is affected due to natural environmental conditions such as noisy, crowded streets, and irregular surfaces, clinical gait assessment in gait laboratories would not be an appropriate way of assessing their gait. This study is in the area of remote gait monitoring using body worn sensors. This study uses the MTx sensors for remote gait monitoring during a free walking activity. The MTx sensors being small in size and unobtrusive can be worn on any part of the body using a simple adhesive tape. These sensors can be interfaced to the receiver using Bluetooth. Using two MTx sensors, the three acceleration signals (vertical, medio-lateral, & anterior-posterior) were recorded for the head and trunk and compared for the free walk on a defined route. The main aim of this study is to compare the head and trunk acceleration signals over various sectors of the free walk. This paper also discusses the potential of using the MTx sensors for remote gait monitoring purpose.