GAIT CYCLE DETECTION USING A TRI-AXIAL ACCELEROMETER AND A GYROSCOPE IN HEMIPLEGIC PATIENTS: A PRELIMINARY REPORT

「Abstract」「Objective」: To evaluate the capability for gait cycle detection using a tri-axial accelerometer and gyroscope in hemiplegic patients. 「Materials & Methods」: Twenty hemiplegic patients participated in this study. The sensors were placed on the tibial tubercle of the affected knee. We divided the patients into groups according to Brunnstrom stage to evaluate whether the sensors can detect gait cycle irrespective of the degree of paralysis. To evaluate whether errors and delay times seen in signals of the sensors were too pronounced for a hemiplegic patient's gait, we asked 5 hemiplegic patients, who had errors and delay times, to walk with functional electrical stimulation (FES) from signals of only the sensors and compared walking speed and step cadences for walking with and without stimulation. 「Result」: Outputs of the sensor signals had some errors and were behind the output of heel sensor signals. The total number of steps was 912. The total number of errors was 20 (2.0%). Average delay time was 0.058 sec (N=20). There were no significant differences among Brunnstrom stages in terms of appearances of errors and average delay times (p>0.05; Kruskal-Wallis rank-sum test). Five patients who were asked to walk with FES from signals of the sensors had faster walking speed and fewer steps than when walking without FES (p