Substantiating Appropriate Motion Capture Techniques for the Assessment of Nordic Walking Gait and Posture in Older Adults

Abstract

Nordic walking (NW) has become a safe and simple form of exercise in recent years, and in studying this gait pattern, various data collection techniques have been employed, each with positives and negatives. The aim was to determine the effect of NW on older adult gait and posture and to determine optimal use of different data collection systems in both short and long duration analysis. Gait and posture during NW and normal walking were assessed in 17 healthy older adults (age: 69 ± 7.3). Participants performed two trials of 6 Minute Walk Tests (6MWT) (1 with poles (WP) and 1 without poles (NP)) and 6 trials of a 5m walk (3 WP and 3 NP). Motion was recorded using two systems, a 6-sensor accelerometry system and an 8-camera 3-dimensional motion capture system, in order to quantify spatial-temporal, kinematic, and kinetic parameters.With both systems, participants demonstrated increased stride length and double support and decreased gait speed and cadence WP compared to NP (p <0.05). Also, with motion capture, larger single support time was found WP (p <0.05). With 3-D capture, smaller hip power generation and moments of force were found at heel contact and pre-swing as well as smaller knee power absorption at heel contact, pre-swing, and terminal swing WP compared to NP, when assessed over one cycle (p <0.05). Also, WP yielded smaller moments of force at heel contact and terminal swing along with larger moments at mid-stance of a gait cycle (p <0.05). No changes were found for posture.NW seems appropriate for promoting a normal gait pattern in older adults. Three-dimensional motion capture should primarily be used during short duration gait analysis (i.e. single gait cycle), while accelerometry systems should be primarily employed in instances requiring longer duration analysis such as during the 6MWT. Video LinkThe video component of this article can be found at

Comparative Analysis of Gait Kinematics in Older Adults: Free Walking vs. Nordic Walking with Classic and Mechatronic Poles

“…The observations of other authors, who showed an extension of double and single support during the NW gait of older adults compared to free walking (without poles), have also not been confirmed [13]. This may result from the study of people with various levels of physical fitness and the advancement of their NW technique, which significantly limits the possibility of a reliable comparison of the results obtained by different authors.…”

“…In older individuals, NW resulted in longer strides and increased times of both double and single support compared to walking freely (without poles). During the NW gait, these people also had a lower walking speed and reduced step rate [13]. The literature demonstrates that NW reduces the load of the lumbar spine and lower limb joints and increases energy expenditure in comparison with recreational walking in older adults [14].…”

Badminton motion capture with visual image detection of picking robotics

“…Firstly, the images were filtered and enhanced, and the image results were shown in Figure 7. 26,27 The accurate recognition rate and accurate positioning rate of the image can be obtained through the test. The results of five tests are counted and the results as shown in Table 3 28,29 are obtained.…”