A Low Power Wireless Data Acquisition Device to Monitor Gait Patterns for Children With Toe Walking During Daily Activities

Clinical gait analysis is the accepted “gold standard” for evaluating an individual’s walking pattern. However, in certain conditions such as idiopathic toe walking (ITW), the degree of voluntary control that a subject may elicit upon their walking pattern in a gait laboratory may not truly reflect their gait during daily activities. Therefore, a battery-powered, wireless data acquisition system was developed to record daily walking patterns to assist in the assessment of treatment outcomes in this patient population. The device was developed to be small $(30×50×12mm3)$⁠, light-weight (15 g), easy to install, reliable, and consumed little power. It could be mounted across the laces of the shoe, while forces and walking activities were recorded to investigate the percentage of toe walking during the assessment. Laboratory tests were performed and preliminary clinical trials at a gait laboratory were done on six normal gait walkers. These volunteers also try to walk on their toes to simulate the toe walking at the gait laboratory. The system was able to track the gait pattern and determine the percentage of toe walking relative to normal gait. Three boys and one girl were diagnosed with ITW then participated into this study. A total of 4 sets thirty-three 10 min data sessions (5.5 h) were collected outside the laboratory. The results showed that the test subjects walked on their toes $70±4%$ of the total walking time, which was higher than that they performed $64±5%$ at the gait laboratory. This preliminary study shows promising results that the system should be able to use for clinical assessment and evaluation of children with ITW.