Registration between data from visual sensors and force platform in gait event detection

Abstract

A main requirement in clinical gait analysis is the ability to accurately identify gait events; especially, the initial contact of the heel with the floor and the toe off. The knowledge of the major events of the gait cycle is needed, for instance, in biomechanical data normalization and in the calculation of several temporal/distance parameters. The most common technologies for gait event detection are foot switches and force platforms; however, if the same performance could be achieved, it would be preferable to use the information collected by visual sensors to detect the main gait events. This paper proposes a procedure to be used in the detection of not just stance phase events (i.e. initial contact, opposite toe off, heel rise, opposite initial contact), but also of swing phase events (i.e. toe off, feet adjacent, tibia vertical) through the analysis of visual gait data acquired by image cameras. Moreover, in this paper, it is compared the performance of detecting the initial contact and toe off using our visual methodology and the information obtained from force platforms.