Background: Stroke survivors are often prescribed assistive mobility devices to facilitate independent and safe community ambulation1,2.  Such devices may improve physical activity and gait speed, thereby minimizing fall risk3,4.  However, stroke survivors often abandon the assistive device after discharge, which might decrease mobility.  Thus, it is crucial to monitor the usage of assistive device during activities of daily living and community ambulation for long-term follow up and proper clinical decision-making.  An accelerometer-based wearable sensor was tested to quantify activity on the cane of stroke survivors. Method: Twelve young and ten chronic stroke participants were asked to walk at their preferred, slow and fast speed with a ‘swing-thru’ gait pattern.  All the participants walked on a 10m instrumented GAITRite walkway with a cane, with one sensor around the ankle and other attached to the cane.  GAITRite as a gold standard validated gait kinematics from the wearable sensor.  Young participants were made to walk with a cane to mimic gait pattern observed in stroke patients.  Gait speed and number of steps were analyzed for all walking conditions. Result: No significant difference was noted between the gait speed and number of steps for all speeds for both groups between the ankle and cane wearable sensor (p>0.05).  Unlike the number of steps, there was significant difference in gait speed between groups for slow walking; for both ankle and cane sensors (p<0.05). Conclusion:  Accelerometer-based wearable sensors could be used to objectively quantify the usage of cane during community ambulation in stroke survivors to monitor mobility.

Accelerometer-based quantification of cane activity in stroke survivors: Are cane-steps equivalent to footsteps?