Portable devices for the clinical measurement of gait performance and outcomes

There is a need for inexpensive yet effective, easy-to-use, instruments that can provide performance and outcome measures in a clinical setting, In particular, there is a need to provide quantitative measures to supplement the qualitative observational abilities of rehabilitation service providers with respect to gait and ambulation. Present day motion analysis systems, while they provide a wealth of data, are beyond the reach of most clinicians both in terms of cost and ability to maintain and operate them. The authors believe the development of simpler instruments with automated data processing algorithms which can measure the temporal and spatial properties of the body center-of-mass (BCOM) during gait will be of great benefit to the clinician in the small clinical facility. The authors´ goal is to develop new instruments which might be used to provide quantitative performance and outcomes measures of a person´s gait and to transfer these instruments into everyday clinical practice. They are building on their previously developed one dimensional (l-D) single marker, gait evaluation system (Weir and Childress, 1997), known as DURS Direct Ultrasound Ranging System to develop a three dimensional (3-D), single marker gait analysis system based on the same direct ultrasound ranging technology but instead of using one receiver two additional receivers have been added in order to triangulate two more dimensions