Validation of a smartphone-based measurement tool for the quantification of level walking

•We compared smartphone and motion capture data in order to evaluate concurrent validity.•Reliable and valid quantification of vertical centre of mass displacement and step duration by smartphone.•Smartphones can be used as practicable assessment tools for gait analyses.•Only three trials are needed, in order to obtain reliable and valid data.

IntroductionIt is important to assess and quantify gait in order to determine the severity of impairments during gait and to evaluate therapeutic interventions. However, laboratory gait assessment is expensive and time consuming and there is a lack of an easily applicable tool for the quantification of gait in clinical practice. The aim of this study was to validate a smartphone-based measurement tool for the quantification of level walking.MethodsVertical center of mass displacement and step duration of 22 healthy young adults were assessed by a smartphone application and a motion capture system. Intra-session reliability was evaluated by repeated-measures ANOVA, intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC), and standard error of measurement. In order to evaluate the concurrent validity of the smartphone application, smartphone- and motion capture-derived values were compared by Pearson correlation coefficient and Bland-Altman limits of agreement.ResultsSix out of eight variables derived by the smartphone application showed an excellent reliability (ICC ≥ 0.75) and all variables correlated significantly with measurements of the motion capture system with moderate to strong correlations ranging from 0.61 to 0.92.ConclusionThe results showed a great potential of the smartphone application to be a user-friendly and valid tool for the assessment of gait in clinical practice. Further research needs to investigate whether the smartphone application is able to detect differences in gait patterns following therapeutic or orthopedic interventions and whether it is valid for the quantification of gait in people with movement disorders.