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A Principal Components Analysis Approach to Quantifying Foot Clearance and Foot Clearance Variability. J Appl Biomech 2019 Apr 01;35(2):116-122

Date

11/14/2018

Pubmed ID

30421634

DOI

10.1123/jab.2018-0187

Scopus ID

2-s2.0-85062843463 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site)   9 Citations

Abstract

Low foot clearance and high variability may be related to falls risk. Foot clearance is often defined as the local minimum in toe height during swing; however, not all strides have this local minimum. The primary purpose of this study was to identify a nondiscrete measure of foot clearance during all strides, and compare discrete and nondiscrete measures in ability to rank individuals on foot clearance and variability. Thirty-five participants (young adults [n = 10], older fallers [n = 10], older nonfallers [n = 10], and stroke survivors [n = 5]) walked overground while lower extremity 3D kinematics were recorded. Principal components analysis (PCA) of the toe height waveform yielded representation of toe height when it was closest to the ground. Spearman's rank order correlation assessed the association of foot clearance and variability between PCA and discrete variables, including the local minimum. PCA had significant (P < .05) moderate or strong associations with discrete measures of foot clearance and variability. An approximation of the discrete local minimum had a weak association with PCA and other discrete measures of foot clearance. A PCA approach to quantifying foot clearance can be used to identify the behavioral components of toe height when it is closest to the ground, even for strides without a local minimum.

Author List

Benson LC, Cobb SC, Hyngstrom AS, Keenan KG, Luo J, O'Connor KM

Authors

Allison Hyngstrom PhD Associate Professor in the Physical Therapy department at Marquette University
Jake Luo Ph.D. Associate Professor; Director, Center for Biomedical Data and Language Processing (BioDLP) in the Health Informatics & Administration department at University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee




MESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold

Accidental Falls
Adult
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Biomechanical Phenomena
Female
Foot
Gait
Humans
Male
Principal Component Analysis
Risk Factors
Toes
Walking
Young Adult