Designing a wearable device for step analyzing

Abstract

During the locomotion, the foot is a contact surface and a source of interaction with the external environment. Because of this, its health is important to monitor in order to precociously diagnose its problems. General or specific pathologies can change its physiological function. The measurements of pressure in both dynamic and static conditions can avoid, and even prevent, a worsening of a foot or inferior limb lesion. Plantar pressure exams are then essential to create personalized soles. Foot plantar pressure is the pressure field that acts between the foot and the support surface during everyday locomotive activities. In this work, a plantar pressure measurement system was developed to identify areas with higher or lower pressure load to allow the creation of a personalized sole. The designed device has been planned to be attached to the patient ankle allowing maximum comfort during the normal gait. A series of resistive sensors is attached to the shoe sole, which is then connected to a device placed around the ankle, measures the pressure variations in static condition or during the gait cycle. The measured data are transmitted via Bluetooth to the correlated software. The software of the measurement system shows the pressure in each small sensor element of the sole in real time and saves the data in a file.