Measurement of gait by an in-shoe motion sensor system: feasibility and potential application in healthy adults and patients with orthopedic diseases.

BACKGROUND

Gait varies in accordance with several factors, including age, gender, and the presence of disease. A recently developed system allows the convenient measurement of gait using in-shoe motion sensors and a smartphone application. Here, this system was used to measure seven gait parameters in 40 healthy adults and 45 patients with orthopedic disorders.

METHODS

For the healthy volunteers, gait monitoring was performed for one month. This monitoring was also performed at home before and one year after surgery in patients with knee or spine disorders, and at hospital at four time points before and after surgery to monitor changes in gait. The relationship between participant characteristics and gait was assessed among the healthy volunteers, and change of gait in the perioperative period was described among the patients.

FINDINGS: In the healthy volunteers, being in one's 80s was significantly related with worse gait conditions, such as slower walking speed and shorter stride length, than being in one's 40s. Also, higher height was associated with longer stride length. In the patients with knee disorders, many gait parameters worsened from before to one month after surgery, and then tended to improve up to one year post-surgery. In contrast, patients with spinal disorders showed improvement even at one month post-surgery, with continued improvement up to three months post-surgery.

INTERPRETATION: Measurement in daily life was feasible, and thought to accurately reflect the gait of each participant. Further studies are needed to investigate the relationship between the gait parameters and health outcomes.