GAIT SYMMETRY ANALYSIS PROTOCOL FOR WHOLE LEG MOVEMENT SYMMETRY EVALUATION

초록

Objective and accurate evaluation of patients who underwent lower limb operation is important in determining a proper rehabilitation process according to the patient's recovery status. Gait symmetry analysis is a common protocol that is used to evaluate lower limb function; however, most studies have focused only on the terminal symmetry of lower limb during gait motion and were unable to provide information about detailed motions of the whole leg. To more accurately analyze mutual symmetry of the left and right leg during gait motion, measurement of motions of the whole left and right leg including the pelvis, hip, knee, and ankle is required. Eight patients (mean [standard deviation]: age = 22.87 [6.05] years; height = 167.81 [5.86] cm; weight = 629.52 [133.63] Newtons) who underwent limbsalvage surgery and eight normal volunteers (age = 28.87 [3.79] years; height = 167 [8.36] cm; weight = 657.46 [157.02] Newtons) participated in this study. Using motion capture cameras arranged around each subject, real-time gait motion of each participant was recorded and moving trajectories of 12 submotion elements were extracted. Mutual symmetry of the motion between the left and right leg was then calculated using a Pearson correlation method, while a nonparametric Mann-Whitney test was performed for group comparison. Experimental results showed that the moving trajectories of the left and right leg were similar in the normal group (r = 0: 8114[0.22]) but were critically different in the patient group (r = 0.624286[0.15]). In addition, there was statistically significant difference (p = 0.0162) in gait symmetry between the normal group and the patient group (95% confidence level). We conclude that the proposed protocol can provide a useful evaluation tool for patient recovery condition and that it could be helpful in establishing an effective postoperative treatment protocol for lower limb patients.

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