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. 2019 Mar 19;9(3):66.
doi: 10.3390/brainsci9030066.

Dual Mode Gait Sonification for Rehabilitation After Unilateral Hip Arthroplasty

Julia Reh  1 , Tong-Hun Hwang  2 , Gerd Schmitz  3 , Alfred O Effenberg  4
Affiliations

Dual Mode Gait Sonification for Rehabilitation After Unilateral Hip Arthroplasty

Julia Reh et al. Brain Sci. .

Abstract

The pattern of gait after hip arthroplasty strongly affects regeneration and quality of life. Acoustic feedback could be a supportive method for patients to improve their walking ability and to regain a symmetric and steady gait. In this study, a new gait sonification method with two different modes-real-time feedback (RTF) and instructive model sequences (IMS)-is presented. The impact of the method on gait symmetry and steadiness of 20 hip arthroplasty patients was investigated. Patients were either assigned to a sonification group (SG) (n = 10) or a control group (CG) (n = 10). All of them performed 10 gait training sessions (TS) lasting 20 min, in which kinematic data were measured using an inertial sensor system. Results demonstrate converging step lengths of the affected and unaffected leg over time in SG compared with a nearly parallel development of both legs in CG. Within the SG, a higher variability of stride length and stride time was found during the RTF training mode in comparison to the IMS mode. Therefore, the presented dual mode method provides the potential to support gait rehabilitation as well as home-based gait training of orthopedic patients with various restrictions.

Keywords: acoustic feedback; acoustic model; gait sonification; hip arthroplasty; motor relearning; real-time sonification; rehabilitation.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Process of intervention with ten training sessions (TS) on twelve days. The control group (CG) did not receive any acoustic feedback, while the sonification group (SG) received real-time feedback (RTF) alternating with instructive model sequences (IMS).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Patient of the sonification group during gait training. The temporal course can be observed on the notebook screen.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Step length of the affected and unaffected leg for SG (n = 10) (left) in week 1 and week 2, step length of the affected and unaffected leg for CG (n = 10) (right) in week 1 and week 2. Values are means ± standard deviation.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Coefficient of variation (COV) of stride length for SG. Values are means ± standard error.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Coefficient of variation (COV) of stride time for SG. Values are means ± standard error.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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