Gait analysis of patients with lumbar spinal stenosis using a wearable tri-axial acceleration sensor

• Published in: Journal of Iwate Medical Assiociation Vol. 73; no. 4; pp. 177 - 188
• Main Authors: Kinno, Dachi, Murakami, Hideki, Endo, Hirooki, Yamabe, Daisuke, Chiba, Yusuke, Abe, Yuichiro, Wada, Shuntaro, Chida, Yasushi, Doita, Minoru
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Iwate Medical Association 01.10.2021
• Subjects: gait analysis; gait asymmetry; Lissajous index; lumbar spinal stenosis; wearable tri-axial acceleration sensor
• ISSN: 0021-3284; 2434-0855
• DOI: 10.24750/iwateishi.73.4_177

Lumbar spinal stenosis (LSS) is one of the most common causes of gait disturbance. However, most gait analyses in patients with LSS require a laboratory and do not yield results instantly. Lissajous index (LI) is a method that represents the gait asymmetry visually and numerically based on trunk acceleration data. We investigated the effect of surgery on gait disturbance and assessed whether LI can be useful for the quantitative analysis of gait in patients with LSS. Thirty-two patients were evaluated during a 6-minute walking test with a wearable tri-axial acceleration sensor, preoperatively and at 3 months postoperatively. The distance walked significantly increased from 395.1 ± 60.8 m preoperatively to 455.4 ± 64.4 m postoperatively (p < 0.001). The preoperative LI value increased over time (p < 0.001) and showed a tendency to postoperative improvement. The postoperative LI value was significantly lower than the preoperative value at 1–4 min (p < 0.05) and was much lower at 4–6 min (p < 0.01). Preoperative and postoperative LI changes correlated with clinical scores (p < 0.05). Thus, surgery improves gait symmetry, and LI values can be useful for evaluating gait in patients with LSS.