Abstract
Objective: The purpose of this study was to compare the accuracy of stride time and stride length provided by a commercial APDM inertial sensor system (APDM) with the results of three dimensional motion capture system (3D motion) during treadmill walking. Method: Five healthy men participated in this experiment. All subjects walked on the treadmill for 3 minutes at their preferred walking speed. The 3D motion and the APDM were simultaneously used for extracting gait variables such as stride time and stride length. Mean difference and root mean squared (RMS) difference were used to compare the measured gait variables from the two measurement devices. The regression equation derived from the range of motion of the lower limb was also applied to correct the error of stride length. Results: The stride time extracted from the APDM was almost the same as that from the 3D motion (the mean difference and RMS difference were less than 0.0001 sec and 0.0085 sec, respectively). For stride length, mean difference and RMS difference were less than 0.1141 m and 0.1254 m, respectively. However, after correction of the stride length error using the derived regression equation, the mean difference and the RMS difference decreased to 0.0134 m and 0.0556 m or less, respectively. Conclusion: In this study, we confirmed the possibility of using the temporal variables provided from the APDM during treadmill walking. By applying the regression equation derived only from the range of motion provided by the APDM, the error of the spatial variable could be reduced. Although further studies are needed with additional subjects and various walking speeds, these results may provide the basic data necessary for using APDM in treadmill walking.