CUSTOMIZED WEARABLE SENSOR-BASED INSOLES FOR GAIT RE-TRAINING IN IDIOPATHIC TOE WALKERS.

Idiopathic toe walking is associated with lack of heel strike during the initial contact phase of a gait cycle. Idiopathic toe walking affects 5-12% of healthy children in the US. In the case of idiopathic toe walkers: typically, a child can heel-toe walk, but habitually walk on their toes. A corrective intervention is needed during the early age of a child. In this pilot study, we developed a wearable insole with tactile corrective feedback. A total of five subjects (13±4 years) participated in this study. A customized insole was designed with two pressure sensors, inertial measurement units, a vibration tactor and on-board data storage SD card. A vibration biofeedback was provided to the participants if three consecutive toe-toe strikes were found while walking. We found that the average proportion of heel to toe strikes was 0%,66%,64%,53% and 67 % among participants. We also found median time of return to habitual walk of toe-toe gait was 13 seconds. All analysis was conducted on a walking data ranging from 2 to 20 hours of walking. All five subjects reported that the customized insoles were helpful and motivated them for a corrective gait. This novel research with wearable sensors will help physical therapists to utilize innovative intervention methods for gait training in idiopathic toe walkers.

Déclaration de conflit d'intérêts

Conflicts of Interest: All authors have no conflict of interest to disclose.