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Using Inertial Foot Pods to Develop a Gait Protocol to Assist with Concussion Diagnosis and Monitoring

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Dissertation(905.98 KB)

Date

2023

Authors

Supervisor

Cronin, John

Item type

Degree name

Master of Sport, Exercise and Health

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Publisher

Auckland University of Technology

Abstract

Concussions from sports or daily activities of living are an increasingly common mild traumatic brain injury that are frequently undiagnosed or underestimated, therefore there is a need to have valid and reliable protocols that can assess the extent of the concussion and determine readiness for return to activity. With this in mind, the aim of this dissertation was to: 1) review the methods and technologies of dual task (DT) steady state walking protocols with concussed and non -concussed individuals; and, 2) determine the reliability of Plantiga in-shoe inertial sensors with steady state walking paired with a cognitive task. In Chapter 2, the methods and technologies that have been previously utilised to determine concussive influences on gait parameters were critiqued. The primary findings of this literature review were that 3D motion capture (3D MOCAP) and force plates were the most commonly used technologies for analysing concussive gait, with only a few researchers incorporating the use of inertial sensors. A multitude of outcome variables were used to determine differences with concussive and non-concussive gait; gait speed was the sole variable used across all reviewed studies. It was concluded that none of the gait parameters measured by 3D MOCAP and force plates were found to be sensitive enough to consistently determine differences between concussed and non-concussed diagnoses; however, inertial sensors did show some promise. In Chapter 3, a repeated measures experimental design using in-shoe inertial sensors to determine the variability of gait parameters was implemented. This involved non-concussed individuals completing three 2-minute continuous walking protocols (12 m, 30 m, 1 minute out and back) while simultaneously performing a cognitive task of counting backwards in sevens from a randomly generated number between 300 – 500. The primary findings from this study were: 1) the three distances all had similar variability, with acceptable absolute consistency (coefficients of variation < 6.5%; intraclass correlation coefficients > 0.70); 2) the gait variables of interest were reliable across all three protocols; and, 3) inertial sensors appear to be a more affordable, accessible, and easy to use technology as compared to 3D MOCAP and force plates. Given these findings were with a non-concussed population, future research is needed to determine the value of such technology for determining concussion diagnosis via the monitoring of gait parameters using inertial foot pod technology.

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https://hdl.handle.net/10292/16259

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Masters Dissertations