Abstract
In order to describe and evaluate a gait pattern, which is rather complicated and variable, it is necessary to observe the distance and temporal factors of gait since they are terminal output variables of gait movement and are easily observable.
And yet the above factors have not been utilized constructively for gait analytical study for want of adequate instrument systems to pick up and record automatically the variables on those factors.
Therefore, the authors have developed the instrumented walkway system to measure the distance and temporal variables, employing a microprocessor. This system has advantage to take in all variables successively in a manner that does not require the subject to wear, or to be connected to, any apparatus, nor the experimenter to do intricate instrumentation.
Then, making the most of this system, the authors have collected a number of data concerning the free gait of normal adults, and basing upon the statistics derived from these data, have introduced general and valid results.
