The clinical application of inertial measurement unit in identification of foot drop symptoms

Foot drop is a frequent gait disorder which is challenging to identify. Currently, subjective methods are being applied for detection of foot drop in clinical applications. This research introduces an objective procedure based on Inertial Measurement Units to monitor the gait symptoms and distinguish foot drop abnormalities. The proposed system was used to capture gait events from two groups, subjects without a reported gait abnormality and those who had presented with foot drop before lumbar spine surgery. The two groups were monitored during "normal-style walking" trails and the range of movement was compared. Also, frequency components of gait patterns were extracted to analyse the gait characteristics.