Smart mobile phones for gait analysis: A capability and reliability study

For many people, it would be difficult to imagine a world without mobile phones. Mobile phones have become a part of daily living. Smart mobile phones now contain technologies that facilitate a user in many ways with multiple functions on the go. This study explores the accelerometer sensor within smart mobile phones to determine the capability and reliability of using such a sensor for gait analysis. Features of gait can be extracted from the accelerometer sensor. The methods applied in this study show that the student t-test can provide an insight into whether the statistical significant differences exist between standalone accelerometer and the micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS) sensors within smart mobile phones. In order to further explore impact of positioning of devices, two configuration of positioning is considered; a clipped version which can create sway and can potentially skew information, and a securely attached device. Intra-class correlation is performed as a test re-test reliability test to determine whether features of gait is reproducible from the smart mobile accelerometer. This research can pave a path for inexpensive reliable portable applications to provide real-time analysis and monitoring of individuals and patients with gait related conditions.