VALIDATION OF A SMART SHOE SYSTEM FOR REMOTE SPATIOTEMPORAL GAIT MONITORING IN PEOPLE WITH PARKINSON’S DISEASE

Continuous gait monitoring is important in Parkinson’s disease (PD), as individuals may exhibit variable responses to treatment over time. In recent years, wearable sensor technologies have gained attention for gait monitoring in PD, as continuous assessment is challenging in clinical settings and often fails to reflect real-world gait. This study aimed to validate the Nushu smart shoes, a wearable system, against a gold-standard Vicon motion capture system for measuring spatiotemporal gait parameters. Twenty participants (mean age = 68.5 ± 6.46 years; 12 males/8 females), including 10 with PD and 10 age- and gender-matched healthy controls, were recruited. Participants walked along an 8 m walkway at a self-selected comfortable pace. Gait data were recorded simultaneously using the Vicon motion capture system and the Nushu smart shoes. A total of 3095 strides (1698 from participants with PD) were analysed. Agreement between the Nushu smart shoe and the Vicon system demonstrated excellent reliability for stride length (ICC = 0.947), stride time (ICC = 0.956), stride velocity (ICC = 0.958) and good reliability for double-support time (ICC = 0.787). Bland–Altman analysis demonstrated small mean differences between the two systems for stride length (0.039 m), stride velocity (0.036 m/s), stride time (0.002 s) and double support time (0.075s). Similar results were observed in subgroup analyses of participants with PD and controls. The Nushu smart shoe system shows acceptable agreement with a gold-standard motion capture system for spatiotemporal gait assessment, supporting its potential use in clinical gait monitoring to overcome limitations of laboratory-based gait analysis.