Identification of characteristics of foot position and angle during swing phase in fallers using principal component analysis

Identifying the characteristics of fallers is important for preventing falls because such events may reduce quality of life. It has been reported that several variables related to foot positions and angles during gait (e.g., sagittal foot angle and minimum toe clearance) differ between fallers and n...

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Main Authors: Takuma Inai, Yoshiyuki Kobayashi, Chenhui Huang, Koji Fujita, Masahiro Fujimoto, Fumiyuki Nihey, Akiko Yamamoto, Kanako Nakajima, Kentaro Nakahara, Gaku Kutsuzawa, Kenichiro Fukushi, Shoma Kudo
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2023-02-01
Series:Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology
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Online Access:https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fbioe.2023.1117884/full
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author Takuma Inai
Yoshiyuki Kobayashi
Chenhui Huang
Koji Fujita
Masahiro Fujimoto
Fumiyuki Nihey
Akiko Yamamoto
Kanako Nakajima
Kentaro Nakahara
Gaku Kutsuzawa
Kenichiro Fukushi
Shoma Kudo
author_facet Takuma Inai
Yoshiyuki Kobayashi
Chenhui Huang
Koji Fujita
Masahiro Fujimoto
Fumiyuki Nihey
Akiko Yamamoto
Kanako Nakajima
Kentaro Nakahara
Gaku Kutsuzawa
Kenichiro Fukushi
Shoma Kudo
author_sort Takuma Inai
collection DOAJ
description Identifying the characteristics of fallers is important for preventing falls because such events may reduce quality of life. It has been reported that several variables related to foot positions and angles during gait (e.g., sagittal foot angle and minimum toe clearance) differ between fallers and non-fallers. However, examining such representative discrete variables may not be sufficient to detect crucial information, which may be contained in the large portions of unanalyzed data. Therefore, we aimed to identify the comprehensive characteristics of foot position and angle during the swing phase of gait in non-fallers and fallers using principal component analysis (PCA). Thirty non-fallers and 30 fallers were recruited for this study. We performed PCA to reduce the dimensions of foot positions and angles during the swing phase and obtained principal component scores (PCSs) for each principal component vector (PCV), which were then compared between groups. The results revealed that the PCS of PCV3 in fallers was significantly larger than that in non-fallers (p = 0.003, Cohen’s d = 0.80). We reconstructed waveforms of foot positions and angles during the swing phase using PCV3 and our main findings can be summarized as follows. Compared to non-fallers, fallers have a 1) low average foot position in the z-axis (i.e., height) during the initial swing phase 2) small average foot angle in the x-axis (i.e., rotation in the sagittal plane), during the initial swing phase, and 3) large variability in foot position in the y-axis (i.e., anterior/posterior position) during the initial swing phase. We can conclude that these are characteristics of gait related to fallers. Therefore, our findings may be beneficial for evaluating fall risk during gait using a device such as a shoe- or insole-embedded inertial measurement unit.
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spelling doaj.art-48da0d9ca4fb48179b299c1fcd65e8382023-02-14T16:35:15ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology2296-41852023-02-011110.3389/fbioe.2023.11178841117884Identification of characteristics of foot position and angle during swing phase in fallers using principal component analysisTakuma Inai0Yoshiyuki Kobayashi1Chenhui Huang2Koji Fujita3Masahiro Fujimoto4Fumiyuki Nihey5Akiko Yamamoto6Kanako Nakajima7Kentaro Nakahara8Gaku Kutsuzawa9Kenichiro Fukushi10Shoma Kudo11QOL and Materials Research Group, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Tokyo, JapanExercise Motivation and Physical Function Augmentation Research Team, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Tokyo, JapanBiometrics Research Labs, NEC Corporation, Tokyo, JapanDepartment of Functional Joint Anatomy, Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Tokyo, JapanExercise Motivation and Physical Function Augmentation Research Team, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Tokyo, JapanBiometrics Research Labs, NEC Corporation, Tokyo, JapanDepartment of Orthopaedic and Spinal Surgery, Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Tokyo, JapanExercise Motivation and Physical Function Augmentation Research Team, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Tokyo, JapanBiometrics Research Labs, NEC Corporation, Tokyo, JapanExercise Motivation and Physical Function Augmentation Research Team, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Tokyo, JapanBiometrics Research Labs, NEC Corporation, Tokyo, JapanExercise Motivation and Physical Function Augmentation Research Team, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Tokyo, JapanIdentifying the characteristics of fallers is important for preventing falls because such events may reduce quality of life. It has been reported that several variables related to foot positions and angles during gait (e.g., sagittal foot angle and minimum toe clearance) differ between fallers and non-fallers. However, examining such representative discrete variables may not be sufficient to detect crucial information, which may be contained in the large portions of unanalyzed data. Therefore, we aimed to identify the comprehensive characteristics of foot position and angle during the swing phase of gait in non-fallers and fallers using principal component analysis (PCA). Thirty non-fallers and 30 fallers were recruited for this study. We performed PCA to reduce the dimensions of foot positions and angles during the swing phase and obtained principal component scores (PCSs) for each principal component vector (PCV), which were then compared between groups. The results revealed that the PCS of PCV3 in fallers was significantly larger than that in non-fallers (p = 0.003, Cohen’s d = 0.80). We reconstructed waveforms of foot positions and angles during the swing phase using PCV3 and our main findings can be summarized as follows. Compared to non-fallers, fallers have a 1) low average foot position in the z-axis (i.e., height) during the initial swing phase 2) small average foot angle in the x-axis (i.e., rotation in the sagittal plane), during the initial swing phase, and 3) large variability in foot position in the y-axis (i.e., anterior/posterior position) during the initial swing phase. We can conclude that these are characteristics of gait related to fallers. Therefore, our findings may be beneficial for evaluating fall risk during gait using a device such as a shoe- or insole-embedded inertial measurement unit.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fbioe.2023.1117884/fullfallersgaitfootpositionswing phaseprincipal component analysis
spellingShingle Takuma Inai
Yoshiyuki Kobayashi
Chenhui Huang
Koji Fujita
Masahiro Fujimoto
Fumiyuki Nihey
Akiko Yamamoto
Kanako Nakajima
Kentaro Nakahara
Gaku Kutsuzawa
Kenichiro Fukushi
Shoma Kudo
Identification of characteristics of foot position and angle during swing phase in fallers using principal component analysis
Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology
fallers
gait
foot
position
swing phase
principal component analysis
title Identification of characteristics of foot position and angle during swing phase in fallers using principal component analysis
title_full Identification of characteristics of foot position and angle during swing phase in fallers using principal component analysis
title_fullStr Identification of characteristics of foot position and angle during swing phase in fallers using principal component analysis
title_full_unstemmed Identification of characteristics of foot position and angle during swing phase in fallers using principal component analysis
title_short Identification of characteristics of foot position and angle during swing phase in fallers using principal component analysis
title_sort identification of characteristics of foot position and angle during swing phase in fallers using principal component analysis
topic fallers
gait
foot
position
swing phase
principal component analysis
url https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fbioe.2023.1117884/full
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