Design and development of a force-sensing shoe for gait analysis and monitoring

As people age, they become more fragile and exhibit changes in their gait and balance. This state of fragility increases their vulnerability to fall incidents. Gait and balance assessment is usually performed in a clinical setting primarily after a fall. However, daily monitoring has become essential in order to evaluate the quality of gait and alert the patient in case of a risky situation. In this context, many systems have been developed that allow the extraction of specific features in the purpose to detect or predict a fall during daily activities. Footwear systems have been of interest for being non-intrusive and adequate for everyday use. This paper describes the design and development of our proposed force-sensing shoe for gait analysis and monitoring. The system is validated by the extraction of the weight and the Center of Pressure (CoP) trajectory of 10 young volunteers. Results have shown that minor adjustment need to be performed to obtain accurate measurement of the weight. A final design with new features has been sent for manufacturing.