Synopsis "Wearable Sensors & Gait"
Gait analysis has been traditionally conducted in laboratory settings and, therefore, has required specific conditions and expensive equipment. The emergence of wearable sensors has solved the lack of ecology for these measurements and offers a more economical and easier-to-use option to perform gait analysis. Lately, such sensors have allowed the quantification of performance and workload by providing mechanical and physiological parameters, and their popularity has grown exponentially. In this context, more and more wearable sensors are commercially available and, when applied to gait analysis (either walking or running), these devices are able to provide both kinetic and kinematic variables, consequently improving the feasibility and testing time of such assessments and, therefore, becoming a real alternative for clinicians, researchers, and sport practitioners. The incremental growth in big data, cloud computing, and artificial intelligence makes these sensors suitable to connect gait biomechanics with real-life and real-time analysis. All these benefits broaden the possibilities, among others, to provide real-time biofeedback while walking and running, or to integrate sensors with cloud platforms or mobile apps to improve health and/or performance. This Special Issue collected research and contributions on the use and application of wearable sensors for gait assessment and analysis.
