On The Use Of Inertial Sensors For The Assessment Of Step And Stride Time Variability In Individuals With Parkinson'S Disease: Preliminary Study

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a multisystemic pathology compromising, between other signs, the gait performance. The objective of this work is to apply a methodology based on inertial sensors to analyze gait in subjects with PD to detect clinical signs of the disorder. In this study, data were collected from two subjects with PD. The participants walked on a treadmill in a constant velocity of 2 km/h for 1 min. The task was accomplished in two ways: Condition 1-with hand support; and Condition 2-without hand support. The inertial sensors were positioned on the anterior superior iliac spine for detection of step and stride time intervals. The results showed that in Condition 2 the variability of acceleration time series and the variability of step and stride duration increased. Furthermore, these changes are related to the level of patients clinical motor signs.