Motion Tracking Based Lower Limb Musculoskeletal Imbalance Identification Mechanism Using Kinematic Analysis of Human Gait Cycle

Abstract

Abstract According to biomedical researches, repetitive usage of one body muscle sector than the other, incorrect postures a human body takes and practices on a regular basis may cause muscle imbalances in the skeletal system. A muscle imbalance should be paid adequate attention since both neurological and physical performances can be severely affected due to imbalances as time progresses. Current clinical practices of imbalance identification as in gait and posture analysis, movement analysis, joint range of motion analysis and muscle length analysis require and depend on domain expertise and experience. Technical methods of imbalance identification as in X-Rays and CT scans also require the assistance of domain experts to interpret results and cost and time an individual has to bear for this is excessive. To overcome cost, time and domain expertise constraints, this research proposes a mechanism for an individual to self-identify body imbalances and track their progress with treatments. This research considers tracking human gait cycle as the technique for muscle imbalance identification and address the area of physiotherapy. Kinect motion capturing device which is able to track human skeleton, its joints and body movements within its sensory range is used for the gait cycle tracking purposes of this research. Dot product is used in the proposed research as a mathematical operation in order to calculate joint angles applying joint information obtained via the Kinect. Gait cycle patterns of a healthy person are defined by performing several calculations using the proposed mechanism and the skeletal imbalance of a person is defined by differentiating the deviation against the defined healthy gait cycle patterns. A quantifiable final result is produced by this research study pertaining to the status of the skeletal imbalance. The final outcome of the study can be further used to decide the pathology of the imbalance. A satisfactory end result is derived by this research study and followed by further development of the concept, the proposed method can be used in sports and games, clinical and physical fitness domains as a self-identification musculoskeletal imbalance mechanism.