Center of mass with the use of smartphone during walking in healthy individuals

Abstract

[Purpose] The purpose of this study was to measure the center of mass using a smartphone application during walking in healthy. [Subjects and Methods] Forty eight healthy participants volunteered for this study. Measurements of center of mass were obtained by gait analysis application using smartphone while subjects performed 6 meter walking test. The measured data were automatically calculated by the application, subjects performed three trial walks to get a more accurate data analysis. [Results] There were no significant differences among subjects or between genders during the three trials in the vertical and lateral displacement of COM, and the results of the Kolmogorov-Simirnov test showed no differences in vertical and lateral displacement of COM in all subjects or between genders. However, the vertical displacement of COM significantly varied in male subjects than in female subjects, but the lateral displacement of COM did not significantly differ between the male and female subjects. [Conclusion] We can use the Smartphone application to measure the COM for walking; however more studies comparing advanced technological instruments with the smartphone application are needed.