Assessing Stability of Crutch Users by Non-Contact Methods

Achilles Vairis, Suzana Brown, Maurice Bess, Kyu Hyun Bae and Jonathan Boyack
Additional contact information
Achilles Vairis: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Hellenic Mediterranean University, Irákleion, 71410 Crete, Greece
Suzana Brown: Department of Technology and Society, SUNY Korea, Incheon 21985, Korea
Maurice Bess: Department of Technology and Society, SUNY Korea, Incheon 21985, Korea
Kyu Hyun Bae: Department of Technology and Society, SUNY Korea, Incheon 21985, Korea
Jonathan Boyack: Department of Technology and Society, SUNY Korea, Incheon 21985, Korea

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 6, 1-11

Abstract: Enhancing gait stability in people who use crutches is paramount for their health. With the significant difference in gait compared to users who do not require an assistive device, the use of standard gait analysis tools to measure movement for temporary crush users and physically disabled people proves to be more challenging. In this paper, a novel approach based on video analysis is proposed as non-contact low-cost solution to the more expensive alternative with the data collected from processed videos, two values are calculated: the Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR) of acceleration, and the Signal to Noise Ratio of the jerk (time derivative of acceleration), to assess the user’s stability while they walk with crutches. The adopted methodology has been tested on a total of 10 participants. Five are temporary users of assistive devices with one being a long-term user and the other four novice users, and five are disabled participants who use those assistive devices permanently. Preliminary results show differences between novice users, long-term users, and physically disabled users. The approach is promising and could improve the assessment of crutch user stability, allowing for the correction of gait for individuals while using an inexpensive non-contact setup and preventing unnecessary falls.

Keywords: disability; assistive devices; stability; video analysis; acceleration; jerk; axillary crutches (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/6/3001/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/6/3001/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:6:p:3001-:d:517055

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().