Detection of gait events using an F-Scan in-shoe pressure measurement system

A portable system capable of accurate detection of initial contact (IC) and foot off (FO) without adding encumbrance to the subject would be extremely useful in many gait analysis applications. Force platforms represent the gold standard method for determining these events and other methods including foot switches and kinematic data have also been proposed. These approaches, however, present limitations in terms of the number of steps that can be analysed per trial, the portability for outdoor measurements or the information needed beforehand. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the F-Scan® Mobile pressure measurement system when detecting IC and FO. Two methods were used, one was the force detection (FD) in-built algorithm used by F-Scan software and a new area detection (AD) method using the loaded area during the gait cycle. Both methods were tested in ten healthy adults and compared with the detection provided by a kinetic detection (KT) algorithm. The absolute mean differences between KT and FD were (mean ± standard deviation) 42 ± 11 ms for IC and 37 ± 11 ms for FO. The absolute mean differences between KT and AD were 22 ± 9 ms for IC and 10 ± 4 ms for FO. The AD method remained closer to KT detection for all subjects providing sufficiently accurate detection of both events and presenting advantages in terms of portability, number of steps analysed per trial and practicality as to make it a system of choice for gait event detection.