We report on three different methods of gait event detection (toe-off and heel strike) using miniature linear accelerometers and angular velocity transducers in comparison to using standard pressure-sensitive foot switches. Detection was performed with normal and spinal-cord injured subjects. The detection of end contact (EC), normally toe-off, and initial contact (IC) normally, heel strike was based on either foot linear accelerations or foot sagittal angular velocity or shank sagittal angular velocity. The results showed that all three methods were as accurate as foot switches in estimating times of IC and EC for normal gait patterns. In spinal-cord injured subjects, shank angular velocity was significantly less accurate (p<0.02). We conclude that detection based on foot linear accelerations or foot angular velocity can correctly identify the timing of IC and EC events in both normal and spinal-cord injured subjects.

The intervention may be beneficial for reducing the rate of falls in this patient population though further research with a larger sample size is indicated.

Background: Older adults may find it problematic to attend hospital appointments due to the difficulty associated with travelling to, within and from a hospital facility for the purpose of a faceto-face assessment. This study aims to investigate equivalence between telephone and face-to-face administration for the Frenchay Activities Index (FAI) and the Euroqol-5D (EQ-5D) generic healthrelated quality of life instrument amongst an older adult population.

No abstract

The new hand-held muscle strength tester appears to be a reliable and valid clinical assessment tool that can be used to objectively assess muscle strength at particular limb positions and/or joint angles. This feature appears to represent a technical advance in portable muscle strength devices, providing comparable information to those obtained by isokinetic dynamometers at a fraction of the cost and size. However, the device needs to be validated in clinical populations, such as patients with spinal cord injury and stroke, in order to demonstrate its general clinical utility.