Analyzing Gait
Data Science, Spring 2015
This was a project that was conducted as part of a class called Data Science. In this project, we had a data set containing the 3D gait data for 15 patients with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) under 3 different footwear conditions:
MS is a progressive, disabling disease that causes damage to the nervous system and widespread dysfunction1 2. The disease includes sensory, cognitive and motor impairments. The most common motor impairment is difficulty walking. As such, MS patients typically observe a decline in their ability walk as well as requiring increasingly more laborious movements in order to continue walking.
Despite these challenges, by correcting and stabilizing deviations in joint alignment, proper bracing can help participants establish a more stable and energy efficient gait. This bracing can be provided by ankle foot orthotics (AFOs) which can improve gait by increasing joint stability and joint alignment4. In addition, dynamic AFOs are sometimes used to provide power at the ankle to help MS participants further achieve better gait while walking.
- Wearing their own shoes
- Wearing a non-powered Ankle-Foot Orthotic (AFO)
- Wearing a powered, dynamic AFO
MS is a progressive, disabling disease that causes damage to the nervous system and widespread dysfunction1 2. The disease includes sensory, cognitive and motor impairments. The most common motor impairment is difficulty walking. As such, MS patients typically observe a decline in their ability walk as well as requiring increasingly more laborious movements in order to continue walking.
Despite these challenges, by correcting and stabilizing deviations in joint alignment, proper bracing can help participants establish a more stable and energy efficient gait. This bracing can be provided by ankle foot orthotics (AFOs) which can improve gait by increasing joint stability and joint alignment4. In addition, dynamic AFOs are sometimes used to provide power at the ankle to help MS participants further achieve better gait while walking.
As part of the process of developing such an orthotic and understanding its effects on users, we wanted to investigate three aspects of the powered, dynamic AFO's performance compared to the normal AFO or the participant’s own shoes:
Based on our results, results the dynamic AFO does offer better symmetry during gait compared to the normal AFO. The data also suggested that wearing the dynamic AFO was causing slight overextension of the knee compared to when the normal AFO was worn. However, we were not able to prove this definitively. Finally, we found that leg circumduction was increased when comparing participants who wore an normal AFO compared to when they wore their own shoes. Similarly, we also found that leg circumduction was increased when comparing participants who wore a dynamic AFO compared to when they wore their own shoes.
The full details of our project can be found in the final project report, which you can download from the link below:
- Does the dynamic AFO enable better symmetry during gait? An alternative phrasing of this question is: Does the impaired limb better match the healthier limb when the orthotic is dynamic?
- Is knee extension greater with the dynamic AFO compared to the shoes and normal AFO conditions? There is a concern that the dynamic AFO is causing knee overextension compared to baseline standing condition during walking using the dynamic AFO.
- Is leg circumduction reduced with the dynamic AFO and normal AFO compared to the participant’s own shoes? A nalyzing leg circumduction would compare sideways movement of the hips and knee angles. This requires 3D analysis of all joint angles.
Based on our results, results the dynamic AFO does offer better symmetry during gait compared to the normal AFO. The data also suggested that wearing the dynamic AFO was causing slight overextension of the knee compared to when the normal AFO was worn. However, we were not able to prove this definitively. Finally, we found that leg circumduction was increased when comparing participants who wore an normal AFO compared to when they wore their own shoes. Similarly, we also found that leg circumduction was increased when comparing participants who wore a dynamic AFO compared to when they wore their own shoes.
The full details of our project can be found in the final project report, which you can download from the link below:
| datascience2015uiucfinalreport_publicversion.pdf |
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