Gait Acceleration during Walking on Snowy Road

Abstract

A fall in walking on snowy road often causes sever hip fracture. For especially elderly person, thus hip fracture has high risk for bedridden. The purpose of this study is to investigate the gait characteristics on snowy road. In this experiment, eight healthy subjects walked onto snowy and asphalt roads. Gait accelerations were recorded at 20Hz by micro-accelerators equipped with the head, hip, knee and ankle of them. As a result, it was confirmed that the gate acceleration of each body segment showed different patterns with road conditions. Slipping during gait on snowy road could be detected from the change of acceleration of ankle.