A Novel Three-Dimensional Gait Analysis System

Three-dimensional (3D) lower limb kinematic and kinetic analysis based on ambulatory measurements is introduced in this paper. We developed a wireless sensor system composed of a mobile force plate system, 3D motion sensor units and a wireless data logger. 3D motions of body segment and triaxial ground reaction force (GRF) could be simultaneously measured using the system, and the data obtained from sensor units on thighs, shanks and feet could be transferred to a personal computer by wireless local area network (LAN). An inverse dynamics method was adopted to calculate triaxial joint moments. The accuracy of kinematics and kinetics (joint moments) assessment is validated against results obtained from the stationary measurement system based on camera movement analysis and force plates.