Dynamic and Static Balance Evaluation of Scoliosis Based on Plantar Force Sensors

Scoliosis is a three-dimensional deformity of the spine that severely affects the healthy growth of adolescents. This disease may lead to impaired static and dynamic balance, severely affecting quality of life. Currently, the method for assessing scoliosis balance is X-ray evaluation, which cannot combine multiple postures for static-dynamic integrated assessment. Plantar force sensors can capture force signals, calculate spatial, mechanical, and gait cycle parameters, and assess changes in both dynamic and static balance in scoliosis patients. In this study, we collected plantar force sensor data and X-ray information from patients with scoliosis and healthy participants under four postures: standing, bending, marking time, and walking. We extracted spatial, mechanical, and gait features, applied a random forest algorithm to determine the feature importance and classification changes. Even in mild scoliosis, balance ability in both static and dynamic postures is altered. In static postures, balance declined in scoliosis patients are primarily concentrated on mechanical parameters, whereas in dynamic postures, changes are more evident in spatial and gait parameters. This decline in balance ability is correlated with the Cobb angle measured on full-spine X-rays in the standing position (R2=0.5063-0.6989). Therefore, the combined analysis of dynamic and static conditions using force sensors can effectively assess the balance ability in patients with scoliosis.