wGait

Estimation of Knee Adduction Moment Using Wearable Devices


  • Contact person:Mina Baniasad
  • People involved: Mina Baniasad, Pascal Morel, Arash Atrsaei
  • Partners: Xavier Crevoisier, Robin Martin, CHUV
  • Others collaborators: Fabio Becce (CHUV), Claude Pichonnaz (HESAV) 
  • Funding source: Lausanne Orthopedic Research Foundation

wGait illustration

Overview

Medial knee osteoarthritis is one of the primary causes of disability and pain in the elderly. The load applied to the knees during walking, has been shown to have a strong correlation with presence, severity, and progression of the osteoarthritis. Direct measurement of the load is invasive, but the knee adduction moment has been proved as a promising factor for estimation of the medial force in the knee. Currently the KAM can be extracted in the gait lab setting. However, it is very expensive, time-consuming, and requires a big space. The main aim of this project is to estimate the KAM using the wearable system.

Method

We will develop and implement a wearable system to assess the biomechanical load on the knee joint to demonstrate that wearable gait analysis systems can successfully extract the clinically relevant parameters to enhance the assessment and treatment of the patients. To validate the results, comprehensive gait test using both the reference and wearable systems for 30 patients, before and after intervention will be performed.