title: Gait analysis with multiple depth cameras.
abstract: The gait movement seems simple at first glance, but in reality it is a very complex neural and biomechanical process. In particular, if a person is affected by a disease or an injury, the gait may be modified. To help detecting such change, we propose a new method based on multiple depth cameras. The aim of this paper is to show the possibility to reconstruct the body 3D volume in real time during gait in order to detect a pathological problem related to this movement and eventually improve diagnosis. Preliminary results showed that the system is sensitive to gait change produced by a heel prosthesis (heel cup) inserted in one shoe of subjects walking on a treadmill. The system detected a difference between maximal forward and backward positions of lower limbs for this pathological walk, a difference that was negligible for normal walk. These promising results were obtained with only 3 low cost depth cameras; we therefore believe that such methodology opens a new and affordable way for 3D volumetric gait analysis.
authors.affiliation: University of Montreal, Montreal - Quebec, Canada and The M2S laboratory of Rennes 2, Rennes, France. auvinet@iro.umontreal.ca
authors.forename: Edouard
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Auvinet
authors.forename: Franck
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Multon
authors.forename: Jean
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Meunier
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000375:Aging; D000465:Algorithms; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D001699:Biometry / Q000379:methods; D002138:Calibration; D003952:Diagnostic Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D005080:Exercise Test; D005684:Gait; D006365:Heel / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional; D015233:Models, Statistical; D009068:Movement; D019736:Prostheses and Implants; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D016138:Walking