VideoGait analyses in athletes

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Hello,

As a podiatrist you may see a lot of difference athletes in your practice. But the way of an analyzing them can be different. My question is How do you analyze athletes with video gait analyses?

1. Do you make an protocol by your self? (Because I can not find any protocols or literature for video gait analyses (for athletes)
2. How many camera's do you use? 1,2,3,? and with how many frames per seconds?
3. Do you preform the analysis on a treadmill or not? If you're not how long is the distance the athletes have to walk for your analysis.
4. Is the use of video gait analyses an valuable tool? What are the doubts and benefits?

I Hope you will help me further.

Thanks

 

Download the free App, Ubersense.

Steven

 

Hi Steven,

Thanks for your reply.
I use ubersense on my iphone and iPad, but i have my doubts About the quality and you've got only one camera. I think ubersense is good when you start with analyses,

 

I think it depends on what 'data' you are trying to collect and what you are trying to achieve. If using as a tool for gait retraining, or to highlight specific movement patterns which you feel may carry relevance, or maybe just for patient/athlete education, then videoing on your iPad and using one of the many apps available is going to be just fine the majority of the time.

 

Is video based gait analysis valuable??.. absolutely! How do you go about it.. well in a clinical setting, the protocols are very different to research setting, and I am sure everyone has their own method. But the principles remain somewhat the same, try to standardise it and remove variable wherever possible.
In a clinical setting, I use 4 high speed CCD cameras, front, side, back and overhead, and feed them into a splitter system with a program to analyse the feed. You can check out this system on a posting I put up yesterday on www.facebook.com/bartoldbiomechanics.
You will see that i have a treadmill embedded in an 8 metre elevated walkway, with everything but the arms of the treadmill removed. The further away from the subject, the less will be the error of parallax, and I would consider 7-8 metres to be the absolute bare minimum for accurate clinical gait analysis.
You will also see and E-Med platform and a Pedar-m telemetry pressure analysis system. This is a moderately sophisticated setup for clinical gait analysis, but is sure does give me a ton of info..
Whenever I analyse the data.. I start at the head and slowly work (and record what i see of course) my way down the kinetic chain, eventually finishing at the feet.
None of this equipment will give any info that i would consider reliable for a research setting.
Having said all this, I like to get out into the field for my athletes, and for this I use a 35 dollar tripod, and a $400 Nikon Coolpix camera with the capture rate set at 120fps. I then shoot from the front back and side, and use this for technique and biomechanical analysis and gait retraining. It is amazing what you can pick up with this very simple analysis that you will never see with the naked eye. I highly recommend it and maybe have a look at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3rZ3shBGr8 on my youtube channel to give you an idea! This lady is an awesome athlete, but she has flaws we are working on to improve!
hope this helps
Simon

 

Simon I love your assertion that it's a "moderately sophisticated set up for clinical gait analysis".

I'd be over the moon to have just the space to incorporate that set up into my clinic and get the level of information you would derive from that.

As a mere mortal I'll have to stick with my treadmill and mobile app video capture for the time being.

 

I have used the Ubersense app for both iPhone and iPad depending on the scenario. For instant playback I actually like the coachmyvideo app better, while Ubersense I find more effective for later and more detailed analysis/sharing, etc.. Both are free apps so you can download and play around with them easily.

We actually developed a small "gait analysis cart" that we place the iPad on so that we can walk behind the person for longer stretches. While certainly open to much more measurement error, it also provides the ability to have video recording of gait from both the frontal plane and sagittal plane simply by walking behind or beside the person you are filming using only one camera. So depending on the type of data and level of detail you are trying to generate that may or may note be a logical addition to your set up.

Simon, I think that everyone would love to have a gait analysis system with the level of sophistication described (myself included), but until I win the lottery I will just have to make due with my gait cart, iPad, and Tekscan system.

Matt

 

Matt,

Gait cart is a good idea for the ipad. You have a nice set-up and I bet it's more than enough for an experienced biomechanist in clinical practice.

Steven

 

Matt and lab guy,

I've got a question.
What do you mean with an gait card? Is it a sort of an protocol?

tnx

 

The gait cart that we developed is basically a custom built square base with four wheels. The iPad sits perpendicular to the base and can be angled as needed toward or away from the ground. For the wheels, we used razor blade wheels to improve how smoothly it was able to to film while walking behind someone.

Again, the General idea is that the cart allows us to use the iPad to provide instant feedback and analysis when either teaching gait analysis in our classes or working with patients.

I am out of the office for about a week but could post a picture if you are interested.

Matt

 

Hi Matt,

That would be nice! Thanks

I've got an other question. They asked me to make an protocol for analysis athletes, but I really do not know if it is usefull. I've asked some colleagues how they analysis an athlete, but everone has their own materials and manners for analysing. Nevertheless, there is zero literature about videogait analyses. So, Do you thing it is needed?

Or do you have an other sport related subject/questions/ideas where i can write my thesis about.

I would be very greatfull, with some great ideas.

 

Hi

Your questions are relevant and as you've seen, there is no one answer of what works. I think that the 'protocols' we use are directly proportional to space and budget. And as a result, we, certainly I, have learned to work with what I've got.

I also agree with another post that it depends a lot on what you want to achieve and what kind of practice you have. I have a general practice with a focus on biomechanics and see numerous athletes from elite to weekend-warriors.

From what I've learned and applied, I do my very best with what I've got and make it work. Proof is in the pudding and when you address a complaint successfully, and the patient is able to participate again, that of course is the greatest reward.

I have a treadmill with 2 camera's, back and side. I use Dartfish and am able to do much more than I need to. I also use pressure plate data and I find that looking at the 2D pressure and the 3D video, I and the patient see so much.


Brandon