Validity of Kinect for Assessment of Joint Motion during Gait

One of the most common methods employed in gait analysis is the optical measurement method. While many analyzer systems are available commercially, the prices of those systems are rather prohibitive. In this work, an alternative method to obtain gait data using Microsoft KinectTM (Kinect) is investigated. Kinect, a 3D camera system created for gaming purposes, offers an ability which may be suitable for application in gait analysis. It has high mobility, needs no marker, is easy to use, and its price is relatively affordable. However, the performance of Kinect as a measurement tools in gait analysis must be first evaluated. In this work, Kinect is utilized to obtain joint movements of human walking motion to evaluate its suitability as an alternative motion analyzer in gait analyses. The data generated by Kinect are then processed to obtain gait parameters. The resulting parameters are compared to those obtained by 3D Motion Analyzer System that uses multi-camera previously developed. The results show promising prospect for Kinect application in gait analysis.