Systematic Development of a Simple Human Gait Index

Human gait analysis aims to assess gait mechanics and to identify the deviations from "normal" gait patterns by using meaningful parameters extracted from gait data. As each parameter indicates different gait characteristics, a proper combination of key parameters is required to perform an overall gait assessment. Therefore, in this study, we introduced a simple gait index derived from the most important gait parameters (walking speed, maximum knee flexion angle, stride length, and stance-swing phase ratio) to quantify overall gait quality. We performed a systematic review to select the parameters and analyzed a gait dataset (120 healthy subjects) to develop the index and to determine the healthy range (0.50 - 0.67). To validate the parameter selection and to justify the defined index range, we applied a support vector machine algorithm to classify the dataset based on the selected parameters and achieved a high classification accuracy (∼95%). Also, we explored other published datasets that are in good agreement with the proposed index prediction, reinforcing the reliability and effectiveness of the developed gait index. The gait index can be used as a reference for preliminary assessment of human gait conditions and to quickly identify abnormal gait patterns and possible relation to health issues.