Accelerometers for Quantification of Gait and Movement Disorders: A Perspective Review

Abstract

Accelerometers have become increasingly integrated in the biomedical field, as they are highly portable and capable of objectively and reliably quantifying motion. Two specific applications for accelerometers are the quantification of gait and movement disorders, such as Parkinson's disease and essential tremor. The evolution of accelerometers to their present status is discussed. Accelerometry is contrasted with more traditional means for accessing gait and movement disorders. Advances in the research validation of accelerometers for the characterization of gait and movement disorders, such as essential tremor and Parkinson's disease, are addressed. The review concludes with the advancement of three-dimensional (3D) wireless accelerometers and pertinent future implications.

Wearable and wireless accelerometer systems for monitoring Parkinson’s disease patients—A perspective review

“…With the growing prevalence of Parkinson's disease, wearable wireless applications may ameliorate strain on limited medical resources while improving patient quality of care. Over the recent half-decade, wireless accelerometer applications have been advocated and successfully tested and evaluated [3][4][5][6][7]. Wireless accelerometer systems enable the capacity to quantify and track patient status [3][4][5].…”

Using a foot mounted accelerometer to detect changes in gait patterns

“…raditional gait analysis tools are expensive and take a significant amount of time to obtain data from [10]. These factors severely limit how often gait analyses can be performed on a patient and also limit the number of patients gait analysis can be performed on.…”

Movement analysis by accelerometry of newborns and infants for the early detection of movement disorders due to infantile cerebral palsy

“…Therefore, in the field of biomedical technologies, deployment of accelerometers is increasing. Since the 1990s, it benefits from research based on accelerometers in other fields for example the development of airbag release systems for the automotive industry [26]. Presently, accelerometers provide sufficient data quality and reliability for accessing the characteristics of movement disorders.…”

“…Presently, accelerometers provide sufficient data quality and reliability for accessing the characteristics of movement disorders. Additionally they are inexpensive and sufficiently miniaturized for portable assessment [10,20,26,31]. Accelerometer technology improves faster than other devices typically used for movement assessment [10].…”

“…The reliability and accuracy of accelerometers for quantifying human motion has been validated in comparison with other movement analysis systems based on footswitches, electrogoniometers, optical motion systems, and EMG [13,19,20,28,31,41]. Summarizing, the employment of accelerometers leads to improvements in the objective quantitative assessment of movement disorders, monitoring of their development, and therapy efficacy [26]. Based on the prior observations and improvements in accelerometer technology mentioned, the aim of our study was the development of a methodology which allows the objective and quantitative description of unconstrained spontaneous movement in newborns and can be established in pediatric clinics for use in the daily routine.…”