Oral presentation
Open Access
Volume 5 Supplement 1
3rd Congress of the International Foot and Ankle Biomechanics Community
Velocity of centre of pressure as a predictor of walking speed
Journal of Foot and Ankle Research20125(Suppl 1):O28
https://doi.org/10.1186/1757-1146-5-S1-O28
© Keijsers et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2012
Published: 10 April 2012
Background
Walking speed is one of the best measures of overall walking ability. In plantar pressure measurements, walking speed is usually assessed using a stopwatch, photocells, or camera systems. As a simple alternative, contact time can be used but contact time and walking speed are only moderately correlated. Because walking speeds alters foot loading, the centre of pressure might be of more value to indicate walking speed. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to assess walking speed using the velocity of the centre of pressure (VCOP).
Materials and methods
Thirty-three subjects (range 19-77 years) walked over a Foot Scan pressure plate (Rsscan Int) at three speed conditions; slow, preferred, and fast. Contact time and mean VCOP during stance were calculated for each subject and condition. Walking speed was measured by a Vicon motion analysis system using a marker on the heel. Linear regression analysis was used to indicate the relation between walking speed and the independent variables: contact time, mean VCOP during stance, and both combined for all walking conditions separately and together. Finally, stance phase was divided in 5 equal time frames; the mean VCOP was calculated for each frame and used as 5 independent variables (5 VCOP)
Results
When all walking speeds were combined, walking speed was highly correlated with mean VCOP and contact time (see Table 1). However, correlation coefficients values were much lower for the preferred, low, and fast walking speed separately. Mean VCOP showed larger correlation coefficients than contact time. Adding contact time, the correlation coefficient increased minimally. Walking speed was best predicted when the 5 VCOP values were used.
Table 1
Correlation coefficient values (r)
Walking speed | Mean VCOP | Contact time | Both | 5 VCOP |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Slow | 0.80 | -0.78 | 0.82 | 0.84 |
Preferred | 0.90 | -0.69 | 0.90 | 0.91 |
Fast | 0.60 | -0.45 | 0.61 | 0.76 |
All walking speeds | 0.94 | -0.88 | 0.94 | 0.96 |
Conclusions
Mean VCOP is a better predictor for walking speed than contact time. Using more detailed information of the VCOP, the prediction of walking speed can be further increased.
Authors’ Affiliations
(1)
Department of RD&E, Sint Maartenskliniek
(2)
Orthopaedics, Sint Maartenskliniek
(3)
Research Center for Movement Control and Neuroplasticity, Department of Biomedical Kinesiology, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven
Copyright
© Keijsers et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2012
This article is published under license to BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
