Solegait Pods [mobile gait analyzer]

Gait analysis, analyzing movement patterns of the entire body during walking, is a critical first step for physicians and physical therapists in assessing the severity of a patient's lower limb injury. Typically, the therapist will observe (from the rear) the degree in which the patient rolls their planted foot inward (inversion) vs. outward (eversion) during one typical stride. If the patients planted foot typically rolls too inward, or too outward, it can lead to improper rehabilitation of the injured structure and multiple longterm debilitations.However, when physicians and therapists observe a patient's foot dynamics during gait, it is difficult to provide a precise analysis. As they observe, they estimate the degree of inversion and eversion; therefore, they may only be aware when large variances from normal tendencies are present, and smaller variances often go unnoticed. These smaller variances may lead to long term chronic or severe injuries.Solegait Pods is a solution for physicians and therapists to provide an accurate depiction of their patient's foot dynamics during gait. The objective of this project is to create a pressure-sensitive insole, which transmits data to an application on a mobile device. This application will create a plot of the pressure distribution across the patient's entire sole.Given this information, the therapist can determine the correct amount of inversion and eversion of their patient's foot, which will help create a more specialized, and effective rehabilitation program. The product will therefore be useful throughout the entire rehabilitation process in order to track the patient's progress.