Case Study: Utilizing smart insoles to assess early signs and progression in Parkinsonian gait – application in clinical research in neurodegenerative diseases and beyond.
Parkinsonian gait is one of several motor symptoms that are the hallmarks of Parkinson’s disease, including slowness of movement and tremors. Motor symptoms in Parkinson’s disease come from a lack of control over movements and difficulty initiating muscle movements. Gait disturbances can be detected throughout the progression of the disease: reduced amplitude of arm swing, reduced smoothness of locomotion, low speed, reduced stride length, shuffling steps, etc. However, gait can be difficult to assess and quantify through the usual clinical evaluation and in addition patient performance is associated with huge variability due to daily fluctuation. Hence, gait parameters as assessed objectively by a digital tool have a huge potential as biomarkers in relation to diagnosis/differentiation, tracking of disease progression, clinical trial outcome, etc., and therefore can support both researchers and clinicians in their decision making.
The FeetMe devices provide a platform for digital gait measurement the application of which can be adapted to the scope. The smart insoles can collect data ranging from fully controlled settings using standard gait tests to completely remote real life home monitoring, in an objective, quantifiable way, overcoming the limitations of the currently available technologies.
Gait`N`Park is a clinical study that was initiated in collaboration between Lundbeck, Lille University Hospital and FeetMe with the objective to assess “Markers of Disease Progression and Gait Within the Parkinsonian Population”. The study design and the first insight into the preliminary results reflect the flexible use of the technology and serve as a great example of the advantages of real world gait monitoring in a research setting.
Jonas Wiedemann, Specialist Biostatistician, Lundbeck
Alexis Mathieu, Co-founder and Senior Advisor, FeetMe