Data is taken the entire time a user is wearing the monitor. The data is stored long term and users can send a CSV file with all their walking data to their main healthcare professional or to researchers they are working with. Researchers can gain daily insight into a patients gait patterns rather than a snapshot example of what it could be.
In lab or medical settings, patients will often walk different due to awareness of the gait, or due to performance anxiety and wanting to appear healthy. In cases of recovery, patients can have good days or bad days, and getting insight on a good day can affect whether they are getting the care they need.
Walking speed of each foot can be monitored to ensure patients are walking quick enough to continue living independently.
The amount of time each foot spends on the ground is monitored to provide insights on if a single foot is dragging or if very small steps or shuffles are happening.
Width between the medial sides of each foot is calculated and provided in centimetres by WalkWell. Large stance widths can be indicative of poor sense of balance, or fear of falling.
How long each foot is in the air. Short steps can show weakness in legs, or a favouring of a foot taking short steps.
Overall differences in parameters between each foot are compared and calculated to show significant patterns. This can help find out if a patient is favouring a foot or limping without realizing and how often it is happening.
Can be analyzed alongside the time that a patient has been walking to see if they are taking more steps than normal.
Data was tested and verified using a treadmill that tracked the same data, as well as with a 10 metre walking test performed in medical assessments
10 metre walk test
Average Velocity tested on treadmill
The WalkWell sensor is designed to share the minimum distance found between the Ultrasonic sensor and the medial side of the opposite foot (in testing the ultrasonic sensor is on the right foot). Below is the distances the foot was placed, where the sensor correctly provided the distance of the centre photo where the users feet are the minimum distance apart.