REEV SENSE IMUs for Spatiotemporal Gait Analysis in Post-Stroke Patients: Validation Against Optical Motion Capture

Abstract

Objective gait assessment is essential for post-stroke rehabilitation monitoring, yet optical motion capture systems remain inaccessible to most clinical settings due to cost and infrastructure constraints. This study assessed the validity of the REEV SENSE IMU for measuring spatiotemporal gait parameters in post-stroke individuals and evaluated assistive device effects on measurement accuracy. Twenty chronic post-stroke participants were enrolled, and fourteen completed the study (ten without an assistive device, four using a cane) after applying pre-defined exclusion criteria (walking speed <0.28 m/s, n = 6). Participants walked at self-selected speed while simultaneously being recorded by REEV SENSE IMUs and optical motion capture. Spatiotemporal parameters from matched heel strikes were compared using intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC), mean relative error (MRE), and Bland–Altman analysis. Temporal parameters demonstrated excellent reliability: contact time (ICC 0.96–0.99, MRE 2.77–5.45%), stride duration (ICC 0.95–0.99, MRE 2.57–2.62%), and cadence (ICC 0.98–0.99, MRE 1.80–1.93%). Spatial parameters showed greater variability, with stride length degrading substantially in slow-walking conditions (Cane group: ICC 0.76, MRE 8.60%). REEV SENSE provides reliable temporal parameter measurement comparable to commercial systems, positioning it as a practical tool for clinical gait monitoring in post-stroke rehabilitation. However, spatial parameter accuracy requires cautious interpretation in slow-walking regimes, necessitating independent validation when clinical decisions depend on precise stride length estimates.