Background

Postural balance can be considered a conjoined parameter of gross motor performance. It is acquired in early childhood and honed until adolescence, but may also be influenced by various conditions. A simplified clinical assessment of balance and posture could be helpful in monitoring motor development or therapy particularly in pediatric patients. While analogue scales are considered unprecise and lab-based force-plate posturography lacks accessibility, we propose a novel kinematic balance assessment based on markerless 3D sensor technology.

Research question

Can balance and posture be assessed by tracking kinematic data using a single 3D motion tracking camera and are the results representative of normal motor development in a healthy pediatric cohort?

Methods

A proprietary algorithm was developed and tested that uses skeletal data from the Microsoft Kinect™ V2 3D motion capture camera to calculate and track the center of mass in real time during a set of balance tasks. The algorithm tracks the distance of the COM traveled over time to calculate a balance score (COM speed). For this study, 432 school children aged 4−18 years performed 5 balance tasks and the resulting balance scores were analyzed and correlated with demographic data.

Results

Preliminary experiments demonstrated that the system was able to reliably detect differences in COM speed during different balance tasks. The method showed moderate correlation with age and sex. Athletic activity positively correlated with balance skill in the age group < 8 years, but not in older children. Body mass appeared not to be correlated with balance ability.

Significance

This study demonstrates that markerless 3D motion analysis can be used for the clinical assessment of coordination and balance and could potentially be used to monitor gross motor performance at the point-of-care.

中文翻译：

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典型的发展中儿童的简化数字平衡评估

背景

姿势平衡可被视为总体运动表现的综合参数。它是在儿童早期获得的，并经过磨练直至青春期，但也可能受到各种条件的影响。对平衡和姿势的简化临床评估可能有助于监测运动发育或治疗，尤其是在儿科患者中。虽然模拟量表被认为是不精确的，而基于实验室的测力板姿势术缺乏可及性，但我们提出了一种基于无标记3D传感器技术的新型运动学平衡评估。

研究问题

是否可以通过使用单个3D运动跟踪摄像机跟踪运动学数据来评估平衡和姿势，并且该结果是否代表健康的小儿队列中正常的运动发育？

方法

开发并测试了一种专有算法，该算法使用Microsoft Kinect™V2 3D运动捕捉相机的骨骼数据在一组平衡任务中实时计算和跟踪质心。该算法跟踪COM随时间推移的距离，以计算平衡得分（COM速度）。在本研究中，432名4-18岁的学童完成了5项平衡任务，并对所得的平衡得分进行了分析，并将其与人口统计数据相关联。

结果

初步实验表明，该系统能够可靠地检测到不同平衡任务期间COM速度的差异。该方法显示出与年龄和性别适度相关。在8岁以下的年龄组中，运动活动与平衡能力呈正相关，而在较大的儿童中则不存在。体重似乎与平衡能力无关。

意义

这项研究表明，无标记3D运动分析可用于临床评估协调性和平衡性，并可潜在地用于在护理点监测总体运动表现。