title: Experimental Validation of Depth Cameras for the Parameterization of Functional Balance of Patients in Clinical Tests.
abstract: In clinical practice, patients' balance can be assessed using standard scales. Two of the most validated clinical tests for measuring balance are the Timed Up and Go (TUG) test and the MultiDirectional Reach Test (MDRT). Nowadays, inertial sensors (IS) are employed for kinematic analysis of functional tests in the clinical setting, and have become an alternative to expensive, 3D optical motion capture systems. In daily clinical practice, however, IS-based setups are yet cumbersome and inconvenient to apply. Current depth cameras have the potential for such application, presenting many advantages as, for instance, being portable, low-cost and minimally-invasive. This paper aims at experimentally validating to what extent this technology can substitute IS for the parameterization and kinematic analysis of the TUG and the MDRT tests. Twenty healthy young adults were recruited as participants to perform five different balance tests while kinematic data from their movements were measured by both a depth camera and an inertial sensor placed on their trunk. The reliability of the camera's measurements is examined through the Interclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC), whilst the Pearson Correlation Coefficient (r) is computed to evaluate the correlation between both sensor's measurements, revealingexcellentreliability andstrongcorrelations in most cases.
authors.affiliation: MAPIR-UMA Group, Department Ingeniería de Sistemas y Automática. Universidad de Málaga, Instituto de Investigación Biomédica de Málaga (IBIMA), Málaga 29071, Spain. famoreno@uma.es.
authors.forename: Francisco-Ángel
authors.initials: FÁ
authors.lastname: Moreno
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Fisioterapia, Universidad de Málaga, Grupo Clinimetría FE-14, Instituto de Investigación Biomédica de Málaga (IBIMA), Málaga 29071, Spain. jmerchan@uma.es.
authors.forename: José Antonio
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Merchán-Baeza
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Fisioterapia, Universidad de Málaga, Grupo Clinimetría FE-14, Instituto de Investigación Biomédica de Málaga (IBIMA), Málaga 29071, Spain. mgsa23@uma.es.|Departamento de Ciencias de la Salud, Universidad de Jaén, Jaén 23071, Spain. mgsa23@uma.es.
authors.forename: Manuel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: González-Sánchez
authors.affiliation: MAPIR-UMA Group, Department Ingeniería de Sistemas y Automática. Universidad de Málaga, Instituto de Investigación Biomédica de Málaga (IBIMA), Málaga 29071, Spain. javiergonzalez@uma.es.
authors.forename: Javier
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: González-Jiménez
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Fisioterapia, Universidad de Málaga, Grupo Clinimetría FE-14, Instituto de Investigación Biomédica de Málaga (IBIMA), Málaga 29071, Spain. acuesta@uma.es.|School of Clinical Sciences of the Faculty of Health, the Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane QLD 4000, Australia. acuesta@uma.es.
authors.forename: Antonio I
authors.initials: AI
authors.lastname: Cuesta-Vargas
mesh_terms: D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D006801:Humans; D009068:Movement; D004856:Postural Balance; D015203:Reproducibility of Results
keywords: depth camera; healthy young adults; inertial sensor; multi-directional reach test; timed up and go