A Mobile Kalman-Filter Based Solution for the Real-Time Estimation of Spatio-Temporal Gait Parameters.

Gait impairments are among the most disabling symptoms in several musculoskeletal and neurological conditions, severely limiting personal autonomy. Wearable gait sensors have been attracting attention as diagnostic tool for gait and are emerging as promising tool for tutoring and guiding gait execution. If their popularity is continuously growing, still there is room for improvement, especially towards more accurate solutions for spatio-temporal gait parameters estimation. We present an implementation of a zero-velocity-update gait analysis system based on a Kalman filter and off-the-shelf shoe-worn inertial sensors. The algorithms for gait events and step length estimation were specifically designed to comply with pathological gait patterns. More so, an Android app was deployed to support fully wearable and stand-alone real-time gait analysis. Twelve healthy subjects were enrolled to preliminarily tune the algorithms; afterwards sixteen persons with Parkinson's disease were enrolled for a validation study. Over the 1314 strides collected on patients at three different speeds, the total root mean square difference on step length estimation between this system and a gold standard was 2.9%. This shows that the proposed method allows for an accurate gait analysis and paves the way to a new generation of mobile devices usable anywhere for monitoring and intervention.

Model-based estimation of knee stiffness.

During natural locomotion, the stiffness of the human knee is modulated continuously and subconsciously according to the demands of activity and terrain. Given modern actuator technology, powered transfemoral prostheses could theoretically provide a similar degree of sophistication and function. However, experimentally quantifying knee stiffness modulation during natural gait is challenging. Alternatively, joint stiffness could be estimated in a less disruptive manner using electromyography (EMG) combined with kinetic and kinematic measurements to estimate muscle force, together with models that relate muscle force to stiffness. Here we present the first step in that process, where we develop such an approach and evaluate it in isometric conditions, where experimental measurements are more feasible. Our EMG-guided modeling approach allows us to consider conditions with antagonistic muscle activation, a phenomenon commonly observed in physiological gait. Our validation shows that model-based estimates of knee joint stiffness coincide well with experimental data obtained using conventional perturbation techniques. We conclude that knee stiffness can be accurately estimated in isometric conditions without applying perturbations, which presents an important step toward our ultimate goal of quantifying knee stiffness during gait.

Model-based estimation of active knee stiffness.

Knee joint impedance varies substantially during physiological gait. Quantifying this modulation is critical for the design of transfemoral prostheses that aim to mimic physiological limb behavior. Conventional methods for quantifying joint impedance typically involve perturbing the joint in a controlled manner, and describing impedance as the dynamic relationship between applied perturbations and corresponding joint torques. These experimental techniques, however, are difficult to apply during locomotion without impeding natural movements. In this paper, we propose a method to estimate the elastic component of knee joint impedance that depends on muscle activation, often referred to as active knee stiffness. The method estimates stiffness using a musculoskeletal model of the leg and a model for activation-dependent short-range muscle stiffness. Muscle forces are estimated from measurements including limb kinematics, kinetics and muscle electromyograms. For isometric validation, we compare model estimates to measurements involving joint perturbations; measured stiffness is 17% lower than model estimates for extension, and 42% lower for flexion torques. We show that sensitivity of stiffness estimates to common approaches for estimating muscle force is small in isometric conditions. We also make initial estimates of how knee stiffness is modulated during gait, illustrating how this approach may be used to obtain parameters relevant to the design of transfemoral prostheses.