title: Instrumenting gait assessment using the Kinect in people living with stroke: reliability and association with balance tests.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The Microsoft Kinect has been used previously to assess spatiotemporal aspects of gait; however the reliability of this system for the assessment of people following stroke has not been established. This study examined the reliability and additional information that the Kinect provides when instrumenting a gait assessment in people living with stroke.
  
  
  METHODS
  The spatiotemporal variables of step length, step length asymmetry, foot swing velocity, foot swing velocity asymmetry, peak and mean gait speed and the percentage difference between the peak and mean gait speed were assessed during gait trials in 30 outpatients more than three months post-stroke and able to stand unsupported. Additional clinical assessments of functional reach (FR), step test (ST), 10 m walk test (10MWT) and the timed up and go (TUG) were performed, along with force platform instrumented assessments of center of pressure path length velocity during double-legged standing balance with eyes closed (DLEC), weight bearing asymmetry (WBA) and dynamic medial-lateral weight-shifting ability (MLWS). These tests were performed on two separate occasions, seven days apart for reliability assessment. Separate adjusted multiple regressions models for predicting scores on the clinical and force platform assessments were created using 1) the easily assessed clinically-derived gait variables 10MWT time and total number of steps; and 2) the Kinect-derived variables which were found to be reliable (ICC > 0.75) and not strongly correlated (Spearman's ρ < 0.80) with each other (i.e. non-redundant).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Kinect-derived variables were found to be highly reliable (all ICCs > 0.80), but many were redundant. The final regression model using Kinect-derived variables consisted of the asymmetry scores, mean gait velocity, affected limb foot swing velocity and the difference between peak and mean gait velocity. In comparison with the clinically-derived regression model, the Kinect-derived model accounted for >15% more variance on the MLWS, ST and FR tests and scored similarly on all other measures.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In conclusion, instrumenting gait using the Kinect is reliable and provides insight into the dynamic balance capacity of people living with stroke. This system provides a minimally intrusive method of examining potentially important gait characteristics in people living with stroke.
authors.affiliation: School of Exercise Science, Australian Catholic University, Melbourne, Australia. ross.clark@acu.edu.au.
authors.forename: Ross A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Clark
authors.affiliation: School of Exercise Science, Australian Catholic University, Melbourne, Australia. stephanie-vernon@live.com.au.
authors.forename: Stephanie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Vernon
authors.affiliation: School of Exercise Science, Australian Catholic University, Melbourne, Australia. bfment001@myacu.edu.au.
authors.forename: Benjamin F
authors.initials: BF
authors.lastname: Mentiplay
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Therapy, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada. kimberly.miller@ubc.ca.
authors.forename: Kimberly J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Miller
authors.affiliation: School of Physiotherapy, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia. mcginley@unimelb.edu.au.
authors.forename: Jennifer L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: McGinley
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiotherapy, Singapore General Hospital, Singapore, Singapore. puayonghao@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Yong Hao
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Pua
authors.affiliation: School of Physiotherapy, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia. kade.paterson@unimelb.edu.au.
authors.forename: Kade
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Paterson
authors.affiliation: School of Exercise Science, Australian Catholic University, Melbourne, Australia. kelly.bower@acu.edu.au.|Department of Physiotherapy, Royal Melbourne Hospital, Melbourne, Australia. kelly.bower@acu.edu.au.
authors.forename: Kelly J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Bower
mesh_terms: D005080:Exercise Test; D005684:Gait; D020233:Gait Disorders, Neurologic / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology; D006801:Humans; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D026741:Physical Therapy Modalities / Q000295:instrumentation*; D004856:Postural Balance / Q000502:physiology; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D020521:Stroke / Q000150:complications*; D000071939:Stroke Rehabilitation