Development of gait training system synchronized with human walking and application to an evaluation of gait ability

• Project/Area Number: 24500621
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Rehabilitation science/Welfare engineering
• Research Institution: Fujita Health University
• Principal Investigator: TANABE Shigeo 藤田保健衛生大学, 医療科学部, 准教授 (50398632)
• Project Period (FY): 2012-04-01 – 2015-03-31
• Project Status: Completed (Fiscal Year 2014)
• Budget Amount: ¥5,200,000 (Direct Cost: ¥4,000,000、Indirect Cost: ¥1,200,000); Fiscal Year 2014: ¥1,820,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,400,000、Indirect Cost: ¥420,000); Fiscal Year 2013: ¥910,000 (Direct Cost: ¥700,000、Indirect Cost: ¥210,000); Fiscal Year 2012: ¥2,470,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,900,000、Indirect Cost: ¥570,000)
• Keywords: リハビリテーション / トレッドミル / 歩行練習 / 歩行分析 / リハビリテーション工学 / 生体計測 / 動作解析

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In the present study, we developed a method to measure positional coordinates of both legs using a range scanner during treadmill-gait, and studied its application to automatic treadmill speed synchronization with human walking and an evaluation of gait ability. Our results suggest that the proposed method can measure a trajectory of foot motion and estimate foot contact and off. In the automatic synchronization, when position feedback control was added to belt driving at an estimated gait speed, participants could keep walking in a fixed position with any gait speed. In the gait evaluation, almost all spatiotemporal parameters correlated well with the reference values in healthy participants and stroke patients.