Low Price Foot Pressure Distribution Screening Technique: Optical Podoscope with Accurate Foot Print Segmentation using Hidden Markov Random Field Model

Abstract

Background: Foot pressure assessment systems are widely used to diagnose foot pathologies. Human foot plays an important role in maintaining the biomechanical function of the lower extremities which includes provision of balance and stabilization of the body during gait.Objective: There are different types of assessment tools with different capabilities which are discussed in detail in this paper. In this project, we introduce a new camera-based pressure distribution estimation system which can give a numerical estimation in addition to giving a visual illustration of pressure distribution of the sole.Material and Methods: In the first step, an image is captured from the traditional Podoscope devices. Then, HMRFEM image segmentation scheme is implemented to extract the contacting part of the sole to the ground. Finally, based on a simple calibration method, per mm2 pressure is estimated to give an accurate pressure distribution measure.Results: A significant and usable estimation of foot pressure has been introduced in this article. The main drawback of introduced systems is low resolution of sensors which is solved using a high resolution camera as a sensor. Another problem is patchy edge extracted by the systems which is automatically solved in the proposed device using an accurate image segmentation algorithm. Also the LCE, GCE and BCE measures demonstrate that lowest error rates are obtained with HMRF segmentation method.Conclusion: we introduced a camera-based plantar pressure assessment tool which uses we introduced a camera-based plantar pressure assessment tool which uses HMRF-EM-based method has been explained in more detail which gives a brilliant sole segmentation from the captured images. Most of the marketable measurement systems use electronic sensors to estimate the pressure distribution, but here we used the captured image and grayscale levels to compute a per pixel pressure which can be converted to N/mm2 scale.

The feasibility study of stress position device simulating standing weight-bearing applied in computed tomography examination

“…Footprints are closely related to human weight-bearing, and previous studies on footprints have shown no significant differences in footprints when the same or similar pressure was applied to the ankle and foot. 31,32 In order to make the examination more economical and convenient, and to further simplify the device according to the actual situation of the hospital, a simple stress position device was designed to allow patients to generate stress actively, thus making the stress more direct and objective. By presenting weight-bearing footprints and stress position footprints, it is verified that there is a certain degree of correlation between the two, which proves the feasibility of the stress position device simulating weight-bearing.…”

A low-cost podoscope for extracting morphological features of the foot

“…Different podoscopes have been introduced and are characterized according to the material of the supporting structure, i.e., a metal [18][19][20] or wood [13,21,22], the translucent surface, i.e., transparent glass [13,23,24] or plastic back-illuminated top [25]. Some have a mirror to reflect the image to the camera [21]. A camera [19,21,24] or a scanner [13,23] was used to capture the image.…”

“…Some have a mirror to reflect the image to the camera [21]. A camera [19,21,24] or a scanner [13,23] was used to capture the image. The captured image is displayed by computer [13,21,22] or mobile [19] through the Internet [19] or USB cable [18,24].…”

“…A camera [19,21,24] or a scanner [13,23] was used to capture the image. The captured image is displayed by computer [13,21,22] or mobile [19] through the Internet [19] or USB cable [18,24]. Using AutoCAD software, the image calibration approach was used to measure the parameters [13,26] or matlab [24] or OpenCV library [18].…”

Optical-Based Foot Plantar Pressure Measurement System for Potential Application in Human Postural Control Measurement and Person Identification

“…Optical-based plantar pressure measurement is another promising method that can be used to estimate the pressure distribution of the sole [ 28 ]. The system consists of a camera installed underneath the translucent platform.…”