Telemetric Diagnostic System for Measurement of Time Parameters of Gait

Gait is one of the characteristic activities of man and its changes can therefore signal early or advanced disorders of the neuromuscular system. Early diagnosis of gait disorders enables us to predict the disease or to follow the course of the therapy. At present, a number of methods are available for analysis of gait, based on various physical principles and at varying costs. The method of direct visual analysis of gait is considered to be the simplest diagnostic method, however, it harbours a subjective error and is unable to quantify precisely the degree of disorder. Therefore, modern methods incorporating computer analysis and covering various diagnostic problems attempt to cover such errors. These include the following: • time analysis of gait – platforms, e.g. GAITMATTM II (www.gaitmat. com), accuracy 10–2 s, length 3.8 m; system UDS FTK UP Olomouc (Salinger et al., 1990), accuracy 10–3 s, length 6 m and others, • force-time analysis of gait – insoles, e.g. T&T MEDIOLOGIC (www.mediologic.com), 64 sensors/insole, sampling frequency of 60 Hz; Novel (Pedar) (www.novel.de), 128 sensors/insole, sampling frequency of 50 Hz; DINATO (www.tuol.it/bat), 64 sensors/insole, sampling frequency of 70 Hz and others, – platforms, e.g. FOOTSCAN® system – 16384 sensors, length 2.07 m, sampling frequency of 400 Hz; KISTLER (www.kistler.ch), 4 sensors (3D), length 0.9 m, sampling frequency of 750 Hz; NOVEL EMED ST, 1500 sensors, length 0.5 m, sampling frequency of 100 Hz, • kinematic analysis of gait – systems with manual or automatic image digitalization, e.g. COSTEL; ELITE; MIKROMAK (www.mikromak.com); SIMIMOTION (www. simi.net); VICON; FTK UP Olomouc (Janura et al., 1998) and others.