The purpose of the Gait Analysis Platform (GAP) is to unobtrusively capture gait parameters and physiological data. This data is used develop diagnostics capabilities which can detect increased gait variability and unsteadiness in elderly people (i.e. detect enhanced risk of falls). This can help with early identification of the onset of diseases such as Parkinson’s.
The TRIL Gait Analysis Platform (GAP) consists of:
• A bespoke pressure sensing walkway (Tactex, S4 Sensors, Victoria, BC, Canada)
• Two SHIMMER™ kinematic sensors worn on the subject’s shanks
• Two orthogonally mounted web cameras
Data from these sensors is captured using a custom application developed in BioMOBIUS™. GAP has been used in the TRIL Clinic to collect data from over 600 patients. The patient data, clinician comments, and technical details for each walk were saved to a database. Data from all the sensors were time synchronized and recorded into a single file format. Video, SHIMMER™ data and pressure sensing walkway data were reviewed offline for data and protocol integrity using BioMOBIUS™. The data was also exported to text-files for off-line analysis in MATLAB to calculate both the temporal and spatial parameters of gait for each patient. These parameters are used to identify characteristic differences between fallers and non-fallers.