Assessing a novel way to measure step count while walking using a custom mobile phone application

Walking speed has been associated with many clinical outcomes (e.g. frailty, mortality, joint replacement need, etc.). Accurately measuring walking speed (stride length x step count/time) typically requires significant clinician/staff time or a gait lab with specialized equipment (i.e., electronic timers or motion capture). In the present study, our goal was to measure “step count” via smartphones through novel software and to compare with that reported by step tracking software that come standard with iOS and Android smartphones as a first step in walking speed measurement.Our population was non-impaired individuals, 28.3 ± 9.9 years old. We collected data from 52 individuals, 6 conditions and 3 trials for each condition.

步行速度已被证实与多项临床结局（如衰弱、死亡、关节置换需求等）密切相关。准确测量步行速度（步长×步数/时间）通常需要耗费大量临床医护人员的时间，或是依赖配备专业设备（如电子计时器、动作捕捉系统）的步态实验室。本研究旨在通过自研软件借助智能手机采集“步数”，并将其与iOS及Android智能手机自带的步数追踪软件所统计的步数进行对比，以此作为步行速度测量研究的第一步。本研究的受试者为无功能障碍的成年人，年龄为28.3±9.9岁。本次研究共收集了52名受试者的数据，涵盖6种实验条件，且每种条件下开展3次重复测试。