GAIT RETRAINING USING A “SMART SHOE” DEVICE
Open Access
- Author:
- Sulewski, Tara Lynn
- Graduate Program:
- Mechanical Engineering
- Degree:
- Master of Science
- Document Type:
- Master Thesis
- Date of Defense:
- None
- Committee Members:
- Stephen Jacob Piazza, Thesis Advisor/Co-Advisor
Stephen Jacob Piazza, Thesis Advisor/Co-Advisor
Sean Brennan, Thesis Advisor/Co-Advisor - Keywords:
- N/A
- Abstract:
- A device was designed to measure the ground reaction force under the foot and provide real-time feedback as a method for gait modification. Two force sensitive resistors (FSRs), a micro processor, Bluetooth, and a rotary motor enabled wireless data collection, on board processing, and real-time feedback. An experiment was designed to calibrate the FSR sensors against ground reaction forces measured using a force plate, provide feedback to a subject during a 15 minute walking session, and determine if the subject could maintain this modified gait after feedback was removed. During the first part of testing the subject’s normal ground reaction force at heel strike was measured by both the FSRs and the force plate; the Arduino device was then programmed with this information. In the second part of testing subjects were asked modify their gait during a 15 minute walking session by reducing their force at heel strike into a range of 50-75% of their normal force. During the third part of testing the feedback was removed and the force at heel strike was measured from both the FSRs and the force plate. Results indicated that subjects were effective at reducing the number of feedback activations for forces over 75%, while subjects found it much more difficult to stay above 50%, with almost 90% of feedback being activated for forces below 50% of the normal. It was found that subjects were able to reduce their force on the FSR at heel strike into the 50-75% range and maintain this modification after feedback was removed, however only a 5-10% decrease was seen in force applied to the force plate. This shows that subjects were able to modify their gait and off-load the FSR into the correct range, yet were doing so in a manner that did not reduce their overall force at heel strike. The device may have led subjects to alter their gaits by modifying how force was applied to the heel, possibly in addition to reducing the magnitude of the loading at heel strike.