The Conventional Gait Model’s sensitivity to lower-limb marker placement

Abstract

Clinical gait analysis supports treatment decisions for patients with motor disorders. Measurement reproducibility is affected by extrinsic errors such as marker misplacement—considered the main factor in gait analysis variability. However, how marker placement affects output kinematics is not completely understood. The present study aimed to evaluate the Conventional Gait Model’s sensitivity to marker placement. Using a dataset of kinematics for 20 children, eight lower-limb markers were virtually displaced by 10 mm in all four planes, and all the displacement combinations were recalculated. Root-mean-square deviation angles were calculated for each simulation with respect to the original kinematics. The marker movements with the greatest impact were for the femoral and tibial wands together with the lateral femoral epicondyle marker when displaced in the anterior–posterior axis. When displaced alone, the femoral wand was responsible for a deviation of 7.3° (± 1.8°) in hip rotation. Transversal plane measurements were affected most, with around 40% of simulations resulting in an effect greater than the acceptable limit of 5°. This study also provided insight into which markers need to be placed very carefully to obtain more reliable gait data.