Development and implementation of an IMU-based protocol to validate a motion-activated EMS for the knee joint

Detecting differences in a person's motor pattern while walking is challenging during rehabilitation programs. Moreover, the conventional analysis does not allow the measurement of variations within a single gait cycle. In this study, gait analysis has been performed from hip-knee cyclograms, through the calculation of gait descriptors (area, perimeter, dimensionless ratio, and hip and knee range of motion). This allowed the kinematics of the two joints to be analysed simultaneously throughout the entire gait cycle. This thesis aims to develop and implement a methodology to evaluate human gait variations caused by the use of the prototype of a knee muscle electro-stimulator. For this purpose, knee and hip angles during walking were acquired by a 3D kinematic tracking system consisting of magneto-inertial sensors. This was conducted in a control group (n=18) of healthy people and on a subject with a lower limb pathology acquired at mid- and end-treatment with electro-muscular stimulation. The gait descriptors turned out to be sensitive to variations in human movement and able to track and follow the rehabilitation process in the pathological subject. Furthermore, the cyclogram analysis for the control also led to results comparable to other scientific works carried out on a larger number of healthy subjects in literature. From the results, the suitability of the developed protocol has been found for the validation studies of rehabilitative medical devices for conditions affecting the walking pattern.