Department of Neurosurgery, Penn State College of Medicine, Hershey, PA, USA.
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Penn State University, University Park, PA, USA.
J Med Eng Technol. 2021 Aug;45(6):486-493. doi: 10.1080/03091902.2021.1922526. Epub 2021 May 21.
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a progressive disorder which impairs gait and elevates the risk for falls. Current methods of assessing gait in these patients are infrequent and subjective. The goal of this study was to evaluate wearable-based methods for assessing gait to facilitating better monitoring of ambulatory health and ultimately lessen fall risk. Thirty ambulatory patients seen in ALS clinic were guided by a physical therapist on a short walk, during which inertial sensors recorded their movement. Two methods, utilising sensors at the waist or foot, were used independently to estimate gait parameters. Decreased stride length, increased stride duration and decreased walking speed were associated with lower functional walking scores, and the presence of a cane or walker. Overall, there was no group-wide mean walking speed differences between methods, though the waist method overestimated stride length and walking speed in those with more significant gait dysfunction compared to the foot method. Reconstruction of movement using the foot-based sensor resulted in route segments that were 94 ± 1% standard error of the mean (SEM) the length of a centre-to-centre hallway reference vector, with an angular error of 0.66 ± 0.28° SEM.
肌萎缩侧索硬化症（ALS）是一种进行性疾病，会损害步态并增加跌倒的风险。目前评估这些患者步态的方法不频繁且主观。本研究的目的是评估基于可穿戴设备的步态评估方法，以促进更好地监测活动能力健康，并最终降低跌倒风险。在 ALS 诊所就诊的 30 名活动患者在物理治疗师的指导下进行短暂行走，在此期间，惯性传感器记录了他们的运动。两种方法，分别使用腰部或脚部的传感器，独立用于估计步态参数。步长减小、步幅时间延长和行走速度降低与较低的功能性行走评分以及使用手杖或助行器有关。总体而言，两种方法之间没有组间平均行走速度差异，但与脚部方法相比，腰部方法在步态功能障碍更严重的患者中高估了步长和行走速度。使用基于脚部的传感器重建运动导致的路径段比中心到中心走廊参考向量的长度长 94 ± 1%标准误差（SEM），角度误差为 0.66 ± 0.28° SEM。
