A Laboratory Insole for Analysis of Sensor Placement to Determine Ground Reaction Force and Ankle Moment in Patients with Stroke

An insole system was constructed with 32 sensors inside a size 10 men's shoe. This system allows evaluation of the contributions of individual sensors spread throughout the surface area of the insole. The kinetic variables of interest in this initial study are ground reaction force and anterior-posterior ankle moment. Use of all 32 sensors are able to replicate the shape of the ground reaction force and ankle moment in a stroke patient who has regained a more normal gait, but less so in a stroke patient with impaired gait. Subsets of sensors can now be evaluated in order to ultimately identify an optimum set of sensors for determining kinetic variables necessary to classify presence or absence of a particular gait abnormality or other pathology.