Reliability and applicability of a low-cost, camera-based gait evaluation method for clinical use

Background: There is the need for the development of reliable and easy to use in clinical setting gait assessment tools. An open-access video analysis software that administers the calculation of kinematical and spatio-temporal characteristics of human movement is Kinovea (R) however, its repeatability as a gait analysis tool has not been well addressed. The purpose of the study was to examine the applicability and reliability of an objective, quantitative, low-cost and easy to use in the clinical setting, gait evaluation method, using Kinovea (R) software.Methods: Data collected from 44 healthy subjects recording gait in sagittal and frontal plane using two smartphones. Time consumption of the procedure was captured. Kinovea (R) software was used to calculate kinematical and spatial parameters.Results: Intra- and inter-rater reliability of the video processing as well as intra-rater reliability of the measurement procedure represented good to excellent and there were less random measurement errors. There was no measurement error due to random variation for the most of the calculated parameters, except of the pelvis position.Conclusions: The results suggest that excepting low accuracy in calculation of pelvis position, gait evaluation using Kinovea (R) software is objective, quantitative, low-cost, reliable and easy to use in the clinical setting.