Abstract:
PURPOSE: Radar use for gait analysis could lead to greater access for those in need, but more
validation is needed before the radar can be used in a clinical setting. The purpose of this study
was to develop a prototype radar system and algorithm that is comparable to the infrared motion
capture camera system.
METHODS: Twelve healthy young adults performed treadmill walking trials at three different
paces; slow, normal, and fast pace. Spatiotemporal parameters were collected simultaneously by
the motion capture system and a radar specially designed for the study.
RESULTS: Findings revealed the fast pace walking trials presented the most highly correlated
data between the two systems, with six out of the eight variables having excellent ICC values (>
0.90).
CONCLUSION: Participants’ limbs are moving at higher velocities during the fast walking
trails. These higher velocities resulted in higher frequencies in the radars spectrogram, allowing
for easier data extraction.