Abstract
Running biomechanics have traditionally been analysed in laboratory settings, but this may not reflect natural running gait. Wearable technology has the potential to enable precise monitoring of running gait beyond the laboratory. This study aimed to evaluate the analytical validity and intra-session reliability of temporal running gait outcomes measured by the ViMove2 wearable system in healthy adults. Seventy-four healthy adults (43 males, 31 females, aged 18–55 years) wore the inertial device, ViMove2 on the tibia. Participants ran on a treadmill for one minute at various speeds (8, 10, 12, 14km/hr), completed in a standardised shoe (Saucony Guide Runner). Running gait was measured with the ViMove2 wearable and 3D motion capture (Vicon). Temporal running gait outcomes included ground contact time (GCT) and cadence (steps/min). GCT and cadence from the ViMove2 had face validity with expected changes in outcome with different running speeds, but ViMove2 tended to over-estimate GCT, and under-estimate cadence compared to the reference, especially at slower speeds. GCT demonstrated moderate to good agreement to the reference at speeds >10km/hr, but poor agreement at 8km/hr and within female runners. Cadence had moderate to excellent agreement across speeds compared to the reference. GCT and cadence had excellent reliability across speeds, but at 8km/hr GCT had good agreement between trials. Overall, temporal gait outcomes of GCT and cadence can be measured with the ViMove2, but accuracy and reliability are impacted at slow running speeds and within female runners. Future work is needed to clarify sex or speed-dependent corrections to algorithms / outcomes to aid interpretation and application.
Citation: Mason R, Barry G, Hall G, Godfrey A, Stuart S (2024) Validity and reliability of running gait measurement with the ViMove2 system. PLoS ONE 19(10):
e0312952.
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0312952
Editor: Tadashi Ito, Aichi Prefectural Mikawa Aoitori Medical and Rehabilitation Center for Developmental Disabilities, JAPAN
Received: May 1, 2024; Accepted: October 16, 2024; Published: October 31, 2024
Copyright: © 2024 Mason et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Data Availability: The data from this study contain potentially identifying and sensitive information that could compromise participant privacy. As a result, there are ethical restrictions on sharing a de-identified data set. These restrictions have been imposed by the Research Ethics Committee at Northumbria University. Any requests for data can be directed to the Research Ethics Committee at Northumbria University (contact: Chair of the Faculty of Health and Life Sciences Ethics Committee, Claire Thornton, claire.thornton@northumbria.ac.uk) for researchers who meet the criteria for access to confidential data. All relevant data are within the manuscript and its Supporting information files. For any additional data requirements; Data will be available from the study upon reasonable request from the corresponding author.
Funding: This project received collaborative funding from Northumbria University and DANU Sports Ltd. Grant Number 120162. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
Competing interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.