Human Gait Analysis Using OpenPose

Gait analysis refers to the scientific study of body movements that are responsible for locomotion in human beings. Gait parameters are known to be reliable indicators of neuromuscular and skeletal health. Gait analysis is used in the design of therapeutic paradigms for stroke and spinal cord injury rehabilitation. In this study, we introduce a marker-less, cost-effective, and user-friendly approach to human gait analysis. We use a simple mobile phone camera and a 2D pose estimation system to obtain important anatomical landmarks. From these landmarks, we calculate the knee flexion/extension angle. Further, we analyze the effects of ambient lighting and the subject's attire on the measured knee angle. We also test the efficacy of our approach by comparing the measured knee angles with a normative gait database. Finally, we compare our results with the knee angle readings obtained using MS Kinect (our previous study).