Detection of Gait Phases with Piezoelectric Gyroscope under Different Walking Speed Conditions Norio Furuse1 and Takashi Watanabe2 1 2 Miyagi National College of Technology, Japan Graduate School of Biomedical Engineering, Tohoku University, Japan Abstract Functional electrical stimulation (FES) training of paralyzed muscles has been suggested to be effective for incomplete spinal cord injured patients in the early period of the rehabilitation process. Information of gait phases is very important to assist walking and to restore motor function with FES. It is considered that a small and inexpensive gyroscope is useful to construct a sensor system in clinical. In this paper, to examine the detection methods of the gait phases, we performed the walking measurement that attached a gyroscope on the leg in normal and slow speed with normal subjects. From the result, it was indicated that the sensor could detect the swing phase and the stance phase without mistake. However, it was indicated that the detection algorithm detected the gait phase change in the slow walking earlier than one in the normal speed walking. 1 Introduction Functional electrical stimulation (FES) training of paralyzed muscles was found to be effective for the great majority of incomplete spinal cord injured patients in the early period of the rehabilitation process [1]. Information of gait phases is very important to assist walking with appropriate timing and to restore motor function with FES. Moreover, they are important information for evaluating ability and stability of the patient’s walking [1-2]. Acceleration sensors and gyroscopes are used in the field of mechatronics etc. in recent years. They are suitable for clinical use because they are small and inexpensive and are easy to be attached on the body. As examples using those sensors, many methods of the recognizing the gait phases are reported [2-3]. We have also shown the possibility of measuring with appropriate accuracy the joint angles of the hip, the knee and the ankle during walking with piezoelectric gyroscopes [4-5]. In addition, we showed the possibility of detection of swing phase and stance phase without mistake by using output of the gyroscope that was attached to the dorsum of foot for the measurement of the ankle joint angle [6]. However, it was an examination concerning the detection of the gait phases in normal speed walking. In this paper, we performed the walking measurement that attached the gyroscope on the leg in the normal and the slow speed with normal subjects. From the result, the detection of the gait phases was examined under different walking speeds. 2 Method 2.1 System A piezoelectric gyroscope (Murata, ENC-03J) was attached to the dorsum of foot as shown in Fig. 1. The attached position of the sensor was decided based on our previous examinations [4-6]. The positive direction of angular velocity measured by gyroscope is shown by arrow in Fig.1. The sensor signals were amplified, low-pass filtered (2nd, 22.6Hz, Q=0.71) and sampled at 120 Hz. To validate the gait phases detected based on the output signal of the gyroscope, the gait phases during the walking were detected with two aluminum electrodes and an aluminum plate simultaneously. The foil form aluminum electrodes were attached to the forefoot and the heel of a shoe. The aluminum plate put on the floor was the length of 8 m with the width of 1 m. Four gait phases (mid stance, heel-off, swing and heel-strike) were detected by electric contact condition between the electrodes and the plate [4-6]. Three healthy subjects participated in the experiments. Their tasks were to walk 10 times in the normal and slow speed respectively on the aluminum plate. The subjects were able to do 6 steps by the right leg in one trial of the walking in normal speed. The subjects were able to do 7 steps or to do rarely 8 steps in the slow speed walking. The measured data were analyzed offline using a personal computer. Gyroscope G5(foot) [deg/sec] 500 0 Gait Phase -500 Gyroscope Aluminum Plate Electrode (heel) Electrode (forefoot) Fig. 1 Attachment position of the sensor for the measurement. The positive direction of angular velocity measured by the gyroscope is shown by arrow. 2.2 Detection methods of gait phases The stance phase is the phase that consists of mid stance, heel-off and heel-strike. The output of gyroscope attached to the dorsum of foot was considered to be effective in detecting the gait phases because the output during the gait varied in relation to the phase clearly [6]. The swing phase is detected by the gyroscope if the second negative peak value is detected after the stance phase is detected. However, the swing phase of the first step is detected if the first negative peak value is detected. The stance phase is detected by the gyroscope if its output becomes the negative value after the output reaches the positive peak value in the swing phase. 3 Results An example of the result of detecting the swing phase and the stance phase by using the above-mentioned method is shown in Fig. 2. All the swing and stance phases could be detected without mistake in the all subject's walking experiments. The method using the output of the gyroscope detected the beginning of the swing phase earlier than the method using the aluminum electrode. The delay times of the gait phases detected by using the output of the gyroscope to the gait phases measured with the electrode are shown in Table 1. It was indicated that the detection algorithm used in this paper detected the stance phase more exactly than the swing phase. In addition, it was indicated that the detection algorithms detected the gait phases in the slow walking earlier than the gait phases in the normal speed walking. 0 1 2 3 4 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 5 6 Time [sec] 7 8 9 10 1 0.5 0 Fig. 2 The swing and stance phases detected by the output of gyroscope (subject A, normal speed). Gait phase: 0) stance phase and 1) swing phase. Solid line: gait phases detected by the aluminum electrode, broken line: gait phases detected by the gyroscope. Table 1 The delay times of the gait phases detected by using the output of the gyroscope to the gait phases measured with the aluminum electrode. The numerical value of the minus means that the method using the outputs of the gyroscope detected the gait phase earlier than the method using the electrode. Detect phase Subject A (speed) [msec] Subject B [msec] Swing (nor.) Swing (slow) Stance (nor.) Stance (slow) -50.0±13.1 -55.7±10.1 -47.9±14.6 -61.4±24.4 -96.8±13.2 -74.9±26.3 1.4±17.0 - 1.9±20.8 - 1.9±16.7 -27.6±31.4 -26.6±25.6 -31.3±30.5 4 -38.1±14.3 -66.7±24.1 - 5.0±10.2 -39.9±32.8 Subject C [msec] Average [msec] Discussion The gait phases in the slow walking were detected by the method using the gyroscope about 30 msec earlier then the gait phases in the normal speed walking. It was thought that the slow joint movement depended on slow walking was the reason why the time difference with the gait phases detected by the aluminum electrode increased. An increase in the standard deviation of the delay time in slow walking indicated that the error of the timing increased. It was thought that walking tended to have large variablity in a slow walking as the above-mentioned reason. 5 Conclusion In this paper, the detection of the gait phases was examined under different walking speed. The walking measurements that attached the gyroscope on the leg were performed in the normal and the slow speed with the normal subjects. From the result, it was indicated that the sensor could detect the swing phase and the stance phase without mistake. Therefore, the sensor of gait phase detection with appropriate accuracy that can be used in clinical can be constructed compactly at a low price by using the gyroscopes. However, it was indicated that the detection algorithm detected the gait phases change in the slow walking earlier than the gait phases in the normal speed walking. Acknowledgments This study was partly supported by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan under a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research, and the Sendai Advanced Preventive Health Care Services Cluster. 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