DEVELOPMENT OF SMART DIABETIC FOOT WALKER – PROOF OF PRINCIPLE PHASE

Abstract

Biomechanics studies usually limited to resource intensive laboratory with relevant technical expertise. The biomechanical assessments help to identify, understand and give treatments for disorders and diseases affecting movement. There is societal need to develop digital tools which enable the biomechanical assessments at a big scale. Advancements in mHealth and digital tools enable remote biomechanical measurements leading to the advent of home-based technologies for rehabilitation which may help people manage their health. The study was undertaken to develop smartphone based biomechanical gait assessment of diabetic walkers. With the aid of a smartphone IMU, this study suggests a new technique for determining the changes in shank angle that occur while using diabetic foot walkers. An application measures the angle changes that occur during heel strikes and toe-offs, and the motion analysis was carried out and verified using Kinovea. It can be concluded that the use of smartphone IMU is a convenient method for measuring shank angle during gait and real-time monitoring of gait parameters.