SmartStride: quantifying strides of individuals with Osteoarthritis and Parkinson's disease

Abstract

Individuals with gait disorders are characterized by abnormalities in their walking pattern, adversely affecting their quality of life. For example, researchers have reported that individuals suffering from unilateral Osteoarthritis (OA) and Parkinson's Disease (PD) often demonstrate short stride length, increased stride asymmetry while using both legs and appreciable variability in stride-to-stride length, which in turn can lead to instability in gait and risk of falls. Given the importance of quantifying the strides in real-time during an overground walk, wearable solutions are being explored. Researchers have used various wearable solutions, e.g., those having Inertial Measurement Units (IMUs), and insoles instrumented with Force Sensitive Resistors, to quantify anyone of the gait disorders. Though these studies have been promising, yet this leaves scope to further investigate the applicability of such wearable solutions across various gait abnormalities with an aim to quantify various types of gait disorders while distinguishing different types of gait disorders. Motivated by this need, we developed a wearable system (SmartStride) comprised of IMUs and instrumented insoles to measure attributes related to strides being taken during one's overground walk. Results of our study involving 24 age-matched participants (healthy elderly and those with OA and PD) show the potential of SmartStride to quantify strides across healthy gait and gait disorders (OA and PD), differences in the strides being taken by elderly with OA and PD along with the extent of the disorder, thereby showing its clinical relevance.