Kinematic quantification of gait asymmetry based on bilateral cyclograms

• US 20050004495A1
• Filed: 07/03/2003
• Published: 01/06/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 07/03/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (Honda Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (Honda Motor Company)
• Inventors: Goswami, Ambarish
• Granted Patent: US 7,503,900 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 600/595
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1038 Measuring plantar pressure during gait
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4528 Joints A61B5/4533, A61B5/4538 take precedence

Abstract

Kinematic quantification of gait asymmetry is achieved by plotting the values of the angles of corresponding joints and then comparing the resulting figure to the figure that would have been produced based on a perfectly symmetrical gait. The comparison is based on geometric characteristics that are calculated based on the figures.

Claims

1. A method for quantifying asymmetry of body positions during a movement, comprising:

synchronizing one or more sets of data, wherein each set of data comprises two subsets of data, wherein one subset of data comprises body position representations on a left side of a body and one subset of data comprises body position representations on a right side of the body, and wherein each subset of data comprises body position representations spanning the movement; and

calculating a value based on the one or more synchronized sets of data.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the body positions are angles of joints.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the body positions are angles of corresponding joints.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the movement comprises one or more cycles.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising creating a figure by graphing the body position representations in the synchronized set of data.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the figure is a cyclogram.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the calculated value is an area of the cyclogram.

8. The method of claim 6 wherein the calculated value is an orientation of the cyclogram.

9. The method of claim 6 wherein the calculated value is a minimum moment magnitude of the cyclogram.

10. The method of claim 1 further comprising comparing the calculated value to a corresponding calculated value of a perfectly symmetrical movement or a baseline movement.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein synchronizing a set of data comprises associating a body position representation in one subset of data with a body position representation in another subset of data such that associated body position representations each refer to a corresponding event in the movement.

12. A method for quantifying asymmetry of joint angles during a cycle of movement, comprising:

obtaining a set of data entries, wherein a data entry consists of one or more pairs of angle measurements, a pair comprising one angle measurement for a left joint and one angle measurement for a corresponding right joint at a same point in time, and wherein the set comprises data entries spanning the cycle of movement;

synchronizing the set of data entries;

generating a cyclogram;

calculating a characteristic of the generated cyclogram; and

comparing the characteristic to a corresponding characteristic of a cyclogram representing a perfectly symmetrical gait.

13. A system for quantifying asymmetry of body positions during a movement, comprising:

a synchronizing module that synchronizes one or more sets of data, wherein each set of data comprises two subsets of data, wherein one subset of data comprises body position representations on a left side of a body and one subset of data comprises body position representations on a right side of the body, and wherein each subset of data comprises body position representations spanning the movement; and

a calculating module that calculates a value based on the one or more synchronized sets of data.

14. A computer program product for quantifying asymmetry of body positions during a movement, including a computer readable medium, which comprises instructions to perform the following:

synchronizing one or more sets of data, wherein each set of data comprises two subsets of data, wherein one subset of data comprises body position representations on a left side of a body and one subset of data comprises body position representations on a right side of the body, and wherein each subset of data comprises body position representations spanning the movement; and

calculating a value based on the one or more synchronized sets of data.