Development of pedagogical tools to improve the learning and facilitate the analysis of Clinical Gait Analysis
Clinical Gait Analysis (CGA) is used to identify, characterise and follow the evolution of pathologies of the locomotor system, as well as to assess the efficacy of a rehabilitation program or a surgery. CGA requires a broad knowledge covering various fields such as biomechanics, anatomy, muscle physiology, rehabilitation, or neurology. Assimilating this body of knowledge may be difficult, both for engineer and clinician trainees, as newcomers to the field face a stiff learning curve and a cumbersome learning process. Specifically, standardised CGA reports (Baker,2013) requires training and experience to analyse all the dimensions of the assessment. However, these reports need to be understandable by a broad public in order to be commonly used in clinical procedures. Developing a common knowledge for sharing results of CGA would both facilitate exchanges between the different movement analysis actors, benefit the patients in clinical settings, and improve the development of CGA in clinical settings.
The aim of our challenge:
To develop new pedagogical tools to ease the discussion between experts and non-experts and facilitate both the engineers and clinicians training in CGA.
The tools to be developed can be solely for educational purpose and/or for communication with the non-expert about the CGA report. There is no limit to the format, but the participants should remember that the possibility of dissemination will be evaluated.
For instance, the tool could be a software program (e.g. https://esmac.org/download/), a proposition for a new CGA report format, or a physical tool (e.g. https://www.richard.net/verne/). Ideally, the project should not be available nor have been published yet.
Because CGA is at the crossroad of clinical and engineering fields, projects involving both clinicians and engineers are strongly recommended.
If you are on your own and need help to make your project viable
We have two solutions !
- Post on the forum a small description of yourself, with a list of your skills and background (programming, biomechanics, medical speciality etc…). If you have a specific idea for your project, do not hesitate to post it too! This forum has been built to put you in contact with other members or simply exchange with other participants and members of the SOFAMEA.
- If you are a clinician and need an expert in engineering/programming, you use the following mail directly (engineer-contact@sofamehack.sofamea.org) and you will be put in contact with engineers who are looking for a clinician collaborator. Similarly, if you are an engineer/programmer/designer and need a clinician expert, you can use the following link (clinical-contact@sofamehack.sofamea.org) and you will be put in contact with clinicians susceptible to be interested in your project.
References
Richard Baker (2013) Measuring Walking: A Handbook of Clinical Gait Analysis, Mac Keith Press