title: Feedback system based on plantar pressure for monitoring toe-walking strides in children with cerebral palsy.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this study was to develop a feedback system to assist gait rehabilitation of cerebral palsy (CP) toe walkers with dynamic equinus.
  
  
  METHODS
  Plantar pressure of the forefoot and the heel was collected by sensorized insoles embedded in custom-built shoes and transmitted to a smartphone via Bluetooth. Dynamic foot pressure index of each stride was calculated by purpose-designed software running in the smartphone to distinguish toe-walking strides from normal strides in real time. An auditory signal would be produced to alert the patient each time a toe-walking stride was detected.
  
  
  RESULTS
  For CP toe walkers, the one-way analysis of variance indicated a significant difference (F1,14 = 19.492, P = 0.001) in dynamic foot pressure index between the affected side (31.4 ± 12.0) and the unaffected side (58.6 ± 2.5). In addition, the validation test showed that this system can distinguish toe-walking strides from normal strides of children with CP with an accuracy of 95.3%.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This system was able to monitor the toe-walking strides of children with CP in real time and had the potential to enhance rehabilitation training efficiency and correct toe-walking gait in children with CP with dynamic equinus.
authors.affiliation: From the State Key Laboratory of Virtual Reality Technology and Systems, Beihang University, Beijing, People's Republic of China (FP, DL, YF); and Key Laboratory of Rehabilitation Technical Aids of Ministry of Civil Affair, School of Biological Science and Medical Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing, People's Republic of China (FP, XF, YY, WC, SL, DL, YF).
authors.forename: Fang
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Pu
authors.forename: Xiaoya
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Fan
authors.forename: Yang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Shuyu
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Deyu
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Yubo
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Fan
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D002547:Cerebral Palsy / Q000150:complications / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004867:Equipment Design; D056228:Feedback, Sensory; D005260:Female; D061826:Foot Orthoses; D005545:Forefoot, Human / Q000502:physiology*; D020233:Gait Disorders, Neurologic / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D006365:Heel / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D018670:Monitoring, Ambulatory / Q000295:instrumentation*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012775:Shoes; D014160:Transducers, Pressure; D016474:Weight-Bearing / Q000502:physiology