NIT Rourkela develops indigenous force plate for gait profiling

New Delhi: Researchers at the National Institute of Technology (NIT), Rourkela, have developed a low-cost indigenous force plate for measuring multi-axial ground reaction forces (GRF) to help in gait profiling, according to officials.

Force plates are globally recognised as essential diagnostic tools for analysing human musculoskeletal health. Due to high costs and the lack of Indian manufacturers, its availability in India remains limited.

Gait profiling is a method of evaluating an individual's walking pattern by comparing their unique gait to a reference dataset of healthy individuals' gait patterns.

The new device from NIT Rourkela can be supplied at one-fourth the price of international systems, making it an affordable alternative, they added.

A patent has been filed for the product and the research has been published in the Journal of Mechanics in Medicine and Biology.

The research team used the indigenously developed force plate along with the motion capture system to evaluate the heel pad stiffness in a non-invasive technique. By studying how the heel pad, the natural cushion of the foot, behaves in people with different body weights, the team has taken a step closer to developing better footwear and treatment strategies to reduce heel pain.

According to A Thirugnanam, Professor at NIT Rourkela, the GRF measured from the force plates will be useful to diagnose the abnormal gait patterns. This device will also be useful in sports academics, educational institutes, hospitals and rehabilitation centres in India as it is affordable compared to the existing foreign suppliers.

"Especially among adults, heel pain is one of the most widespread foot ailments. It is often linked to overloading of the plantar fascia, a band of tissue that supports the arch of the foot. However, in many cases, changes in the Heel Pad, a fatty tissue under the heel, can also cause the problem. This issue acts as a shock absorber when we stand, run or walk.

"With too much stress, the heel pad loses its cushioning ability to the foot causing pain and discomfort. The condition can also be caused by ageing, injury, obesity, diabetes and also ill-fitting shoes," he said.

Understanding how the heel pad responds to pressure and stress is vital. For the same reason, traditional approaches use medical imaging or load-based tests to measure heel pad thickness and stiffness, but these do not capture how the pad behaves in real, dynamic movements like walking.

To address this limitation, the NIT Rourkela team has used an indigenously developed force plate, a cost-effective device for gait profiling and ground reaction force measurement. With this new technology, the researchers used 3D motion capture and force plate technology to study how the heel pad bends and shifts during plantar flexion, the stage of walking when the heel lifts off the ground.

To make the study more meaningful, the research team divided 15 volunteers into three groups of normal weight, overweight and obese. Retroreflective markers were placed on the heel pad area of the volunteers and their movements were carefully recorded and analysed.

"Most neuromuscular disorders will affect the gait pattern of an individual. Since gait requires precise coordination of muscle strength and balance, disturbances in any of these can alter the walking pattern and the corresponding GRF. Some common neuromuscular diseases like myopathies, peripheral neuropathies, neuromuscular junction disorders, spasticity, ataxia, Parkinson's disease, cerebral palsy etc, can alter the GRF," he said.

"These abnormalities in GRF can be diagnosed using the force plate. The device can also be used in designing orthotics, prosthetics and insole design in the shoe manufacturing industry.

"The indigenous force plate designed and developed by our team can be supplied at a reasonable cost, making it affordable to all sports academies, healthcare sectors and academic institutes across India," Thirugnanam added.