A Practical Review of the Biomechanical Parameters Commonly Used in the Assessment of Human Gait

Abstract

The analysis of human gait is a potential diagnostic instrument for the early and timely identification of pathologies and disorders. It can also supply valuable data for the development of biomedical devices such as prostheses, orthoses, and rehabilitation systems. Although various research papers in the literature have used human gait analyses, few studies have focused on the biomechanical parameters used. This paper presents an extensive review and analysis of the main biomechanical parameters commonly used in the human gait study. The aim is to provide a practical guide to support and understand of the choices and selection of the most appropriate biomechanical parameters for gait analysis. A comprehensive search in scientific databases was conducted to identify, review and analyze the academic work related to human gait analysis. From this search, the main biomechanical parameters used in healthy and pathological gait studies were identified and analyzed. The results have revealed that the spatiotemporal and angular gait parameters are the most used in the assessment of healthy and pathological human gait.