Method and apparatus for monitoring of daily activity in terms of ground reaction forces
First Claim
1. An apparatus for determining peak vertical ground reaction forces, comprising:
- a) an instrumented insole inserted into a user'"'"'s shoe, b) a data collection means for measuring foot to ground contact time, c) a data processing means for processing said ground contact time data, and d) a calculating means for indirectly estimating peak vertical reaction forces using processed ground contact time data.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A device to record and analyze habitual daily activity in terms of the history of gait-related musculoskeletal loading is disclosed. The device consists of a pressure-sensing insole—placed into the shoe or embedded in a shoe sole—which detects contact of the foot with the ground. The sensor is coupled to a portable battery-powered digital data logger clipped to the shoe or worn around the ankle or waist. During the course of normal daily activity, the system maintains a record of time-of-occurrence of all non-spurious foot-down and lift-off events. Off line, these data are filtered and converted to a history of foot-ground contact times, from which measures of cumulative musculoskeletal loading, average walking- and running-specific gait speed, total time spent walking and running, total number of walking steps and running steps, and total gait-related energy expenditure are estimated from empirical regressions of various gait parameters to the contact time reciprocal. Data are available as cumulative values or as daily averages by menu selection. The data provided by this device are useful for assessment of musculoskeletal and cardiovascular health and risk factors associated with habitual patterns of daily activity.
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Citations
2 Claims
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1. An apparatus for determining peak vertical ground reaction forces, comprising:
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a) an instrumented insole inserted into a user'"'"'s shoe, b) a data collection means for measuring foot to ground contact time, c) a data processing means for processing said ground contact time data, and d) a calculating means for indirectly estimating peak vertical reaction forces using processed ground contact time data.
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2. An apparatus for determining a user'"'"'s daily activity from a determination of peak vertical ground reaction forces, comprising:
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a) an instrumented insole inserted into a user'"'"'s shoe, b) a data collection means for measuring foot to ground contact time, c) a data processing means for processing said contact time data, and d) a calculating means for calculating peak vertical ground reaction forces and calculating a daily Activity Index, AI, and Bone Density Index, BDI as;
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Specification