A Novel Approach for Real-Time Gait Events Detection Using Developed Wireless Foot Sensor Module

This article presents a method for the detection of heel strike (HS) and toe off (TO) for overground walking using developed wireless foot sensor module (WFSM). The proposed algorithm uses variation of foot angle measured from WFSM for estimating stance and swing phase during human gait. The significance and novelty of the developed work lies in the fact that the method validates an approach for detecting gait events using foot angle variation alone, computed from a single inertial sensor. For 11 479 steps recorded from 34 healthy volunteers, it showed 100% true positive detection rate with a mean error of -12.9 ± 30.6 ms and 7.9 ± 10.8 ms for HS and TO, respectively, referenced against foot switches. One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) test for gait cycle time computed from a force sensitive resistor and WFMS showed no significant difference (p > 0.01) between the two sensor methods. The developed system was benchmarked against Zebris FDM system (Zebris medical GMBH, Germany) and Kistler Force Platform (Kistler Inc., Colorado, USA) for comparing temporal gait parameters. The proposed work also reports an improvement in terms of detection latency and, thus, shows potential for real-time control applications.