Evaluation of the impact of a 6-month training by whole body vibration on the risk of falls among nursing home residents

in Osteoporosis International (2013, April), 24(Suppl.1), 246-247

Quantitative gait assessment using an accelerometer technology as a predictive tool of falls among nursing home residents: a 6-month prospective study

in Osteoporosis International (2013, April), 24(Suppl.1), 210

Effects of 3 months of controlled whole body vibrations with low exposure period on the risk of falls among nursing home residents

in Proceeding of the meeting (2013, February 22)

Validated Extraction of Gait Events from 3D Accelerometer Recordings

in IEEE International Conference on 3D Imaging (IC3D) (2012, December)

This work is part of a project that deals with the three-dimensional (3D) analysis of normal and pathological gaits based on a newly developed system for clinical applications, using low-cost wireless ... [more ▼]

This work is part of a project that deals with the three-dimensional (3D) analysis of normal and pathological gaits based on a newly developed system for clinical applications, using low-cost wireless accelerometers and a signal processing algorithm. This system automatically extracts relevant gait events such as the heel strikes (HS) and the toe-offs (TO), which characterize the stance and the swing phases of walking. The performances of the low-cost accelerometer hardware and related algorithm have been compared to those obtained by a kinematic 3D analysis system and a force plate, used as gold standard methods. The HS and TO times obtained from the gait data of 7 healthy volunteers (147 trials) have been found to be (mean ± standard deviation) 0.42±7.92 ms and 3.11±10.08 ms later than those determined by the force plate, respectively. The experimental results demonstrate that the new hardware and associated algorithm constitute an effective low-cost gait analysis system, which could thus be used for the assessment of mobility in routine clinical practice. [less ▲]

Translation validation of a new back pain screening questionnaire (the STarT Back Screening Tool) in French

in Archives of Public Health (2012), 70

Background: Low back pain (LBP) is a major public health problem and the identification of individuals at risk of persistent LBP poses substantial challenges to clinical management. The STarT Back ... [more ▼]

Background: Low back pain (LBP) is a major public health problem and the identification of individuals at risk of persistent LBP poses substantial challenges to clinical management. The STarT Back questionnaire is a validated nine-item patient self-report questionnaire that classifies patients with LBP at low, medium or high-risk of poor prognosis for persistent non-specific LBP. The objective of this study was to translate and cross-culturally adapt the English version of the STarT Back questionnaire into French. Methods: The translation was performed using best practice translation guidelines. The following phases were performed: contact with the STarT Back questionnaire developers, initial translations (English into French), synthesis, back translations, expert committee review, test of the pre-final version on 44 individuals with LBP, final version. Results: The linguistic translation required minor semantic alterations. The participants interviewed indicated that all items of the questionnaire were globally clear and comprehensible. However, 6 subjects (14%) wondered if two questions were related to back pain or general health. After discussion within the expert committee and with the developer of the STarT Back tool, it was decided to modify the questionnaire and to add a reference to back pain in these two questions. Conclusions: The French version of the STarT Back questionnaire has been shown to be comprehensible and adapted to the French speaking general population. Investigations are now required to test the psychometric properties (reliability, internal and external validity, responsiveness) of this translated version of the questionnaire. [less ▲]

Effect of aerobic training on cardiorespiratory fitness, gait, quality of life and psychometric outcomes in Parkinson’s disease patients

Poster (2012)

Gait feature extraction in Parkinson's disease using low-cost accelerometers

Poster (2011)

The clinical hallmarks of Parkinson’s disease (PD) are movement poverty and slowness (i.e. bradykinesia), muscle rigidity, limb tremor or gait disturbances. Parkinson’s gait include slowness, shuffling ... [more ▼]

The clinical hallmarks of Parkinson’s disease (PD) are movement poverty and slowness (i.e. bradykinesia), muscle rigidity, limb tremor or gait disturbances. Parkinson’s gait include slowness, shuffling, short steps, freezing of gait (FoG) and/or asymmetries in gait. There are currently no validated clinical instruments or device that allow a full characterization of gait disturbances in PD. As a step towards this goal, a four accelerometer-based system is proposed to increase the number of parameters that can be extracted to characterize parkinsonian gait disturbances such as FoG or gait asymmetries. After developing the hardware, an algorithm has been developed, that automatically epoched the signals on a stride-by-stride basis and quantified, among others, the gait velocity, the stride time,the stance and swing phases, the single and double support phases or the maximum acceleration at toe-off, as validated by visual inspection of video recordings during the task. The results obtained in a PD patient and an healthy volunteer are presented. The FoG detection will be improved using time-frequency analysis and the system is about to be validated with a state-of-the-art 3D movement analysis system. [less ▲]

Peer-Review : De l'évidence scientifique à la pratique professionnelle de qualité

in Axxon - Qualité en Kinésithérapie (2010)

Gait analysis during an original walking test: Comparison between control subjects and patients with Parkinson’s disease

in Movement Disorders : Official Journal of the Movement Disorder Society (2010, June), 25(Suppl 2), 355

Effects of original rehabilitation programs in patients with fibromyalgia syndrome

in Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases (2010, June), 69(Suppl 3), 706