Technologies and Techniques in Gait Analysis: Past, present and future

Gait analysis is the study of the walking or running pattern of an  individual. This can include spatial and temporal measurements such as  step length, stride length and speed along with angular measurements of  various joints and the interplay between various parts like the foot,  hip, pelvis or spine when walking. Gait analysis can be used to assess  clinical conditions and design effective rehabilitation; for example,  following limb injury or amputation, or other disorders such as a stroke  or Parkinson's diagnosis. It can be used to influence intervention  decisions, such as whether a patient should undergo surgery, further  physiotherapy, or begin a particular treatment regime. Gait analysis can  also be used in sports science to monitor and review performance and  technique.

Gait can be recorded in a variety of ways, including  pressure sensors, force plates, in-shoe pressure systems, through  marker-based or marker-less systems using various cameras or sensors to  calculate body positions in a set sequence of movements.

This  book focuses on both the hardware systems for collecting data as well as  data visualisation and mathematical models for interpreting the data.  It is written by a range of international researchers from academia,  industry, and clinical settings, providing a complete overview of gait  analysis technologies suitable for an audience of engineers in  rehabilitation technologies or other biomedical engineering fields.