Analysis and decomposition of signals obtained by thigh-fixed uni-axial accelerometry during normal walking

The use of piezo-resistive uni-axial accelerometer signals in gait analysis is complicated by the fact that the measured signal is composed of different types of acceleration. The aim of the study is to obtain insight into the signal from a tangential accelerometer attached to the thigh during walking. Six subjects walk with three different speeds. Simultaneous measurements are performed with accelerometers, footswitches and an opto-electronic system. The components of the accelerometer signal are calculated from the opto-electronic system. A clear relationship is found between the measured and calculated accelerometer signals (range RMS: 0.76–3.69 m s−2, range rms: 0.22–0.61). The most pronounced feature is a high positive acceleration peak (> 10 m.s−2) at the end of the cycle. The gravitational acceleration during one cycle is characterised by a sinusoidal shape, whereas the inertial acceleration contains higher-frequency components (up to 20 Hz). During the major part of the gait cycle, the gravitational and inertial acceleration make opposing contributions to the signal. As a result, the gravitational acceleration influences the amplitudes of the measured acceleration signal, the shape and peaks of which are mainly determined by the inertial acceleration. Because the gravitational and inertial accelerations differ in frequency components, the application for gait analysis remains feasible.