Quantification of upper body movements during gait in older adults and in those with Parkinson's disease: impact of acceleration realignment methodologies.
Christopher Buckley, Brook Galna, Lynn Rochester and 1 others
PMID 27992850WHAT IT FOUND
Wearable sensor alignment methods changed every upper-body gait variable tested.
For 12 of 42 variables, the method also changed how clearly Parkinson's disease differed from controls, so sensor results cannot be compared across studies without the same processing.
Key findings
01The four realignment methods changed every upper-body acceleration variable compared, regardless of group.
02For 12 of the 42 variables, the method also changed whether and how strongly the Parkinson's group differed from controls.
03Pelvis signals were least affected by the method, and only one pelvis variable changed the group comparison across methods.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs
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What it does not show
Gait speed was not controlled, so differences in some variables, especially RMS and jerk, may reflect walking speed rather than Parkinson's disease. No gold-standard alignment was recorded, so the study cannot say which method is most accurate. Participants were within 4 months of diagnosis, had no severe tremor or dyskinesia, and had other conditions excluded, so findings may not apply to more advanced or complex Parkinson's disease. The work is about laboratory sensor processing, not about a therapy or a validated diagnostic test.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflict of interest. No funding source is stated in the supplied text.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that one realignment method is clinically superior or that upper-body sensor measures diagnose Parkinson's disease. The study had no gold-standard alignment and did not control gait speed, so it shows method-dependent changes in sensor variables, not a validated diagnostic test.