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Using Kinect to Detect Gait Movement in Alzheimer Patients

Abstract:

During the aging process, the elderly can experience a progressive and definitive deterioration in their gait, especially when they have neurological disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease. Effective treatment requires accurately assessing these issues in mechanical stability, the muscular-skeletal system, and postural reflexes. For Alzheimer patients in particular, gait analysis represents an important method for determining stability and treatment, which is the key objective of this investigation. Thus, this article describes the creation of a dataset on the walking gait, focusing on the distance covered by the patients and the angle of their legs as registered by a Kinect device. All patients were examined at a recognized center for elderly care in the canton of Ambato, Ecuador. We worked with a population of 30 Alzheimer patients whose ages ranged between 75 and 89 years old. The retrieved numerical data were processed with Diffused Logic, which, when based on a series of rules, can determine the instability and stability of a patient with a neurological illness. As a result, it was possible to create a dataset that included numerical values of the walking distance for each patient. This information will be important to future health care research, especially for physiotherapists and pose estimation.