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Letter

Does Curved Walking Sharpen the Assessment of Gait Disorders? An Instrumented Approach Based on Wearable Inertial Sensors

1
Department of Movement, Human and Health Sciences, Interuniversity Centre of Bioengineering of the Human Neuromusculoskeletal System, University of Rome “Foro Italico”, Piazza Lauro de Bosis 15, 00135 Roma, Italy
2
IRCCS Santa Lucia Foundation, Via Ardeatina 306, 00179 Roma, Italy
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Sensors 2020, 20(18), 5244; https://doi.org/10.3390/s20185244
Received: 30 July 2020 / Revised: 7 September 2020 / Accepted: 10 September 2020 / Published: 14 September 2020
Gait and balance assessment in the clinical context mainly focuses on straight walking. Despite that curved trajectories and turning are commonly faced in our everyday life and represent a challenge for people with gait disorders. The adoption of curvilinear trajectories in the rehabilitation practice could have important implications for the definition of protocols tailored on individual’s needs. The aim of this study was to contribute toward the quantitative characterization of straight versus curved walking using an ecological approach and focusing on healthy and neurological populations. Twenty healthy adults (control group (CG)) and 20 patients with Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) (9 severe, sTBI-S, and 11 very severe, sTBI-VS) performed a 10 m and a Figure-of-8 Walk Test while wearing four inertial sensors that were located on both tibiae, sternum and pelvis. Spatiotemporal and gait quality indices that were related to locomotion stability, symmetry, and smoothness were obtained. The results show that spatiotemporal, stability, and symmetry-related gait patterns are challenged by curved walking both in healthy subjects and sTBI-S, whereas no difference was displayed for sTBI-VS. The use of straight walking alone to assess gait disorders is thus discouraged, particularly in patients with good walking abilities, in favor of the adoption of complementary tests that were also based on curved paths. View Full-Text
Keywords: straight walking; curved trajectories; gait quality; body accelerations; figure of 8 walk test; traumatic brain injury; steering of locomotion; dynamic balance; mobility evaluation; turning straight walking; curved trajectories; gait quality; body accelerations; figure of 8 walk test; traumatic brain injury; steering of locomotion; dynamic balance; mobility evaluation; turning
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MDPI and ACS Style

Belluscio, V.; Bergamini, E.; Tramontano, M.; Formisano, R.; Buzzi, M.G.; Vannozzi, G. Does Curved Walking Sharpen the Assessment of Gait Disorders? An Instrumented Approach Based on Wearable Inertial Sensors. Sensors 2020, 20, 5244. https://doi.org/10.3390/s20185244

AMA Style

Belluscio V, Bergamini E, Tramontano M, Formisano R, Buzzi MG, Vannozzi G. Does Curved Walking Sharpen the Assessment of Gait Disorders? An Instrumented Approach Based on Wearable Inertial Sensors. Sensors. 2020; 20(18):5244. https://doi.org/10.3390/s20185244

Chicago/Turabian Style

Belluscio, Valeria, Elena Bergamini, Marco Tramontano, Rita Formisano, Maria G. Buzzi, and Giuseppe Vannozzi. 2020. "Does Curved Walking Sharpen the Assessment of Gait Disorders? An Instrumented Approach Based on Wearable Inertial Sensors" Sensors 20, no. 18: 5244. https://doi.org/10.3390/s20185244

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