Gait Analysis Flashcards
How is movement broken down?
- whole body dynamics
- neuromuscular function
- leg dynamics
Overall = all provide strength, protection, movement and posture
Fundamental requirements of locomotion
- to support our body weight
- move out centre of mass
- be able to swing our legs
What is the centre of mass?
- point of which the line of action of the weight of an object acts irrespective of the position of the object
- centre of gravity is the same
- point around which a body’s weight is equally balanced, no matter how the body is positioned
What is a torque?
- tendency of a force to produce rotation about an axis/fulcrum/pivot
- when a line of action passes directly through the axis of rotation, no angular motion is induced
- but when a line of action falls some distance from the axis, the force tends to cause rotation
Lever systems
- skeletons are jointed lever systems
- muscles produce/transmit force by developing moments at joints
What are concepts of gait based on?
Newton’s laws of motion (working basic for biomechanics)
- Newton’s first law = an object at rest tends to stay at rest and an object in motion tends to stay in motion at the same speed and direction unless acted upon by an unbalanced force
- Newton’s second law = force is equal to mass times by acceleration
- for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction
Kinematics
- geometry of motion
- spatial and temporal elements
- quantitative
Kinetics
- causes of motion (the forces)
- vectors (line of action and point of application)
Kinematic Variables
- Displacement - change in position (m)
- Velocity - change in position over time (m/s)
- Acceleration - change in velocity over time (m/s^2)
How to get from displacement to velocity to acceleration?
- differentiate each (slope of line)
- backwards by integration (area under plot)
Kinematic variables - spatiotemporal
SPATIO
- step/stride length (m)
- stride frequency (number of strides per unit of time (HZ))
TEMPORAL
- stance & swing times (time period of specific foot patterns)
Kinematic variables - angular kinematics
- describes angular motion
- degrees or radians (360 degrees = 2 pi radians)
- measure in absolute angles or relative angles
How do we collect kinematic variables?
- high speed video initially
- motion capture systems (gold standard)
- inertial sensors
Requirements of high speed video methdology
- shutter requirements
- light sensitive cells
- frame rate
Motion capture systems
- cameras need to orthogonal to each other to see same viewpoint at same time to track position of marker
- 4 or more cameras are standard
- more cameras = reduces error
- calibration of the space is v. important (once cameras are in position, marker position in relation to origin)
- 2 types of marker systems (passive and active)