Pressure Insoles for Gait and Balance Estimation

Clinical therapy following stroke aims at tackling induced impairment in motor ability, gait, and balance. Once transferred home, remote monitoring of subject’s performance is necessary for objective evaluation, improving mobility and preventing maladaptation. This requires a wearable and unobtrusive system capable of estimating ambulatory gait and dynamic balance measures, such as Extrapolated Centre of Mass (XCoM) and Dynamic Stability Margin (DSM). Currently, ForceShoes™ (Xsens Technologies B.V., The Netherlands) had been developed for this purpose. However, it is bulky and conspicuous. As a lightweight and inconspicuous alternative, pressure insoles (medilogic® insoles, T&T medilogic Medizintechnik GmbH, Germany) coupled with IMUs, are investigated for objective quantification of gait and dynamic balance measures. Although, to obtain such measures, 3D forces and moments are required. Linear regression models were used to model 3D forces/moments from the 1D plantar pressures measured from pressure insoles. The predicted forces and moments were used for estimation of XCoM and DSM. These parameters were compared with the estimations done by the forces and moments from the ForceShoes™. High correlation and low differences between the estimations from predicted and measured forces and moments show that pressure insoles can indeed be used as an wearable alternative.

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