Comparison of inertial records during anticipatory postural adjustments obtained with devices of different masses

Abstract

Background Step initiation involves anticipatory postural adjustments (APAs) that can be measured using inertial measurement units (IMUs) such as accelerometers. However, previous research has shown heterogeneity in terms of the population studied, sensors used, and methods employed. Validity against gold standard measurements was only found in some studies, and the weight of the sensors varied from 10 to 110 g. The weight of the device is a crucial factor to consider when assessing APAs, as APAs exhibit significantly lower magnitudes and are characterized by discrete oscillations in acceleration paths. Objective This study aims to validate the performance of a commercially available ultra-light sensor weighing only 5.6 g compared to a 168-g smartphone for measuring APAs during step initiation, using a video capture kinematics system as the gold standard. The hypothesis is that APA oscillation measurements obtained with the ultra-light sensor will exhibit greater similarity to those acquired using video capture than those obtained using a smartphone. Materials and Methods Twenty subjects were evaluated using a commercial lightweight MetaMotionC accelerometer, a smartphone and a system of cameras—kinematics with a reflective marker on lumbar vertebrae. The subjects initiated 10 trials of gait after a randomized command from the experimenter and APA variables were extracted: APAonset, APAamp, PEAKtime. A repeated measures ANOVA with post-hoc test analyzed the effect of device on APA measurements. Bland–Altman plots were used to evaluate agreement between MetaMotionC, smartphone, and kinematics measurements. Pearson’s correlation coefficients were used to assess device correlation. Percentage error was calculated for each inertial sensor against kinematics. A paired Student’s t-test compared th devices percentage error. Results The study found no significant difference in temporal variables APAonset and PEAKtime between MetaMotionC, smartphone, and kinematic instruments, but a significant difference for variable APAamp, with MetaMotionC yielding smaller measurements. The MetaMotionC had a near-perfect correlation with kinematic data in APAonset and APAamp, while the smartphone had a very large correlation in APAamp and a near-perfect correlation in APAonset and PEAKtime. Bland–Altman plots showed non-significant bias between smartphone and kinematics for all variables, while there was a significant bias between MetaMotionC and kinematics for APAamp. The percentage of relative error was not significantly different between the smartphone and MetaMotionC. Conclusions The temporal analysis can be assessed using ultralight sensors and smartphones, as MetaMotionC and smartphone-based measurements have been found to be valid compared to kinematics. However, caution should be exercised when using ultralight sensors for amplitude measurements, as additional research is necessary to determine their effectiveness in this regard.

Intra and Inter-Device Reliabilities of the Instrumented Timed-Up and Go Test Using Smartphones in Young Adult Population

“…Moreover, this applicability adds to the future possibility of self-application of the iTUG. This applicability confirms what has already been demonstrated in previous studies involving the use of smartphone inertial sensors, which have shown the application of the device in the evaluation of additional TUG parameters [7][8][9][13][14][15][16]27,28]. In this study, we explored the significance of calculating the norm (magnitude) of acceleration and angular velocity data series in three axes, shedding light on its importance in motion analysis.…”

“…In the inter-device comparisons, it was observed that the maximum angular velocity at both turning moments exhibited higher values on the Motorola device compared to one of the other devices. Although not the focus of this study, the literature suggests evidence that the sensor's weight may impact measurement sensitivity [28]. Two parameters (i.e., 'Stand to Sit Duration' and 'Sitting Jerk') showed no significant inter-device reliability.…”