Principal Component Analysis of Gait Kinematics Data in Acute and Chronic Stroke Patients

• Published in: Computational and mathematical methods in medicine Vol. 2012; no. 2012; pp. 1 - 8
• Main Authors: Milovanović, Ivana, Popović, Dejan B.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cairo, Egypt Hindawi Puplishing Corporation 01.01.2012; Hindawi Publishing Corporation
• Subjects: Acute Disease; Aged; Ankle Joint - physiopathology; Biomechanical Phenomena - physiology; Chronic Disease; Female; Gait - physiology; Hemiplegia - physiopathology; Hemiplegia - rehabilitation; Hip Joint - physiopathology; Humans; Knee Joint - physiopathology; Male; Middle Aged; Principal Component Analysis; Stroke - physiopathology; Stroke Rehabilitation
• ISSN: 1748-670X; 1748-6718; 1748-6718
• DOI: 10.1155/2012/649743

We present the joint angles analysis by means of the principal component analysis (PCA). The data from twenty-seven acute and chronic hemiplegic patients were used and compared with data from five healthy subjects. The data were collected during walking along a 10-meter long path. The PCA was applied on a data set consisting of hip, knee, and ankle joint angles of the paretic and the nonparetic leg. The results point to significant differences in joint synergies between the acute and chronic hemiplegic patients that are not revealed when applying typical methods for gait assessment (clinical scores, gait speed, and gait symmetry). The results suggest that the PCA allows classification of the origin for the deficit in the gait when compared to healthy subjects; hence, the most appropriate treatment can be applied in the rehabilitation.