earticle

영어

Purpose: Smartphones, which are widely used worldwide to detect acceleration and position, have been used in the area of rehabilitation medicine in recent clinical research studies and tests. The aim of the present study was to determine the feasibility of using a smartphone application based on center of movement (COM) displacement to measure gait parameters in stroke patients in the clinical field of rehabilitation medicine. Methods: The study consisted of 30 stroke patients. The COM was measured using a smartphone application, Gait Analysis Pro, during a 6-m walk. Each patient performed three 6-m walking trials, and the smartphone application measured gait duration, gait speed, step length, cadence, and vertical and lateral displacement of the COM. The Kolmogorov–Smirnov test was conducted to determine the normality in gait parameters, and a repeated one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was performed to determine the consistency among the three trials. A p value of 0.05 was considered statistically significant in all the tests. Results: In all the measured parameters, the smartphone application showed a normal distribution, as shown by the results of the Kolmogorov–Smirnov test. There were no significant differences among the three repetitive walking trials. Conclusion: These results suggest that the smartphone application can be used for evaluating gait in stroke patients, as well as in healthy adults. However, prior to using the smartphone application in the clinical field, further research involving three-dimensional gait analysis is needed to enhance the confidence level of the findings.