Comparison of inertial records during anticipatory postural adjustments obtained with devices of different masses

PeerJ. 2023 Jul 12:11:e15627. doi: 10.7717/peerj.15627. eCollection 2023.

Abstract

Background: Step initiation involves anticipatory postural adjustments (APAs) that can be measured using inertial measurement units (IMUs) such as accelerometers. However, previous research has shown heterogeneity in terms of the population studied, sensors used, and methods employed. Validity against gold standard measurements was only found in some studies, and the weight of the sensors varied from 10 to 110 g. The weight of the device is a crucial factor to consider when assessing APAs, as APAs exhibit significantly lower magnitudes and are characterized by discrete oscillations in acceleration paths.

Objective: This study aims to validate the performance of a commercially available ultra-light sensor weighing only 5.6 g compared to a 168-g smartphone for measuring APAs during step initiation, using a video capture kinematics system as the gold standard. The hypothesis is that APA oscillation measurements obtained with the ultra-light sensor will exhibit greater similarity to those acquired using video capture than those obtained using a smartphone.

Materials and methods: Twenty subjects were evaluated using a commercial lightweight MetaMotionC accelerometer, a smartphone and a system of cameras-kinematics with a reflective marker on lumbar vertebrae. The subjects initiated 10 trials of gait after a randomized command from the experimenter and APA variables were extracted: APAonset, APAamp, PEAKtime. A repeated measures ANOVA with post-hoc test analyzed the effect of device on APA measurements. Bland-Altman plots were used to evaluate agreement between MetaMotionC, smartphone, and kinematics measurements. Pearson's correlation coefficients were used to assess device correlation. Percentage error was calculated for each inertial sensor against kinematics. A paired Student's t-test compared th devices percentage error.

Results: The study found no significant difference in temporal variables APAonset and PEAKtime between MetaMotionC, smartphone, and kinematic instruments, but a significant difference for variable APAamp, with MetaMotionC yielding smaller measurements. The MetaMotionC had a near-perfect correlation with kinematic data in APAonset and APAamp, while the smartphone had a very large correlation in APAamp and a near-perfect correlation in APAonset and PEAKtime. Bland-Altman plots showed non-significant bias between smartphone and kinematics for all variables, while there was a significant bias between MetaMotionC and kinematics for APAamp. The percentage of relative error was not significantly different between the smartphone and MetaMotionC.

Conclusions: The temporal analysis can be assessed using ultralight sensors and smartphones, as MetaMotionC and smartphone-based measurements have been found to be valid compared to kinematics. However, caution should be exercised when using ultralight sensors for amplitude measurements, as additional research is necessary to determine their effectiveness in this regard.

Keywords: Anticipatory postural adjustments; Gait initiation; IMU; Postural adjustment assessments; Step initiation; Wireless triaxial accelerometer.

Publication types

  • Comparative Study
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Acceleration
  • Biomechanical Phenomena
  • Gait*
  • Humans
  • Postural Balance*
  • Smartphone

Grants and funding

This work was supported by research grants from Brazilian funding agencies: Research Funding and the National Council of Research Development: GS was a CNPq Productivity Fellow (No. 310845/2018–1) and BC is a post-graduation Fellow (No. 102167/2022-2). PAPQ grant from Federal University of Para. GCSA is CAPES fellows. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.