Walking may seem like a simple, routine motion for many, but did you know that by observing your style of walking, or gait, researchers and practitioners can deduce your state of health or even detect potential neurological disorders like Parkinson’s disease at an early stage?
Despite it being the most basic means of transport, walking is a complex task that requires impeccable coordination between the musculoskeletal and nervous systems to produce smooth motion, maintain balance, minimise energy expenditure, and prevent injury.
Your gait is also affected by factors, such as age, personality, mood, underlying health conditions, and even sociocultural factors.
When we walk, our bodies and limbs move in highly unique and repeated patterns. By examining our walking process and breaking the cycle into phases, we can obtain unique insights into every individual.
The systematic study on walking is known as Gait Analysis.
Analysing the Gait
During Gait Analysis, common spatiotemporal variables such as cadence (number of steps per unit of time), step width, step length, and stride length are studied.
Additionally, sophisticated instruments are also employed to collect biomechanical data on joint kinematics (angles and movements), joint kinetics (ground reaction forces), and muscle activity.
High speed cameras, 3D motion capture systems and force plates are also employed to collect the biomechanical data on joint kinematics (angles and movements), joint kinetics (ground reaction forces), and muscle activity. (Image Credit: HTX)
In the Home Team, HTX’s Human Factors and Simulation Centre of Expertise is looking to utilise real-time Gait Analysis to improve officers’ operational performance. It also acts as a quantitative method to evaluate the effectiveness of new equipment and training regime, to minimise injury risk and maximise physical efficiency.
Depending on the tools used, different sets of data are collected. Together, they provide a holistic evaluation and offer insights on what can be improved for ground officers.
If we find an abnormality caused by donning certain operational gear, such as a fully loaded police duty belt, solutions would include redistributing the load evenly so that officers’ movements and postures are not impeded.
State-of-the-Art Facility
Gait Analysis, as well as many other cutting-edge research on human performance, will be conducted in ExCEL (Emergency Responders’ Fitness Conditioning & Enhancement Lab), a first-of-its-kind facility co-developed by HTX and the Singapore Civil Defence Force. To be unveiled by early 2022, ExCEL would further optimise frontline officers’ performance and capabilities.
A sneak peek at STRiVE (STrength, Conditioning and Rehabilitation in Virtual Environment), a facility in ExCEL which allows us to conduct real-time Gait Analysis. (Image credit: HTX)
Officers can look forward to the next frontier of research, training, and assessment in the Home Team, and eXponentially impact Singapore’s safety and security!