Assessing validity and sensitivity of remotely collected wearable sensor data in patients

Knee osteoarthritis affects more than five million Canadians, often leading to compensatory changes in walking gait. Recently, wearable inertial sensors have begun to offer a more affordable and more broadly deployable option for both researchers and clinicians to conduct gait analysis. Not only are these devices more accessible, but they offer the ability to collect data in real-world settings over longer periods of time, which provides critically important information regarding disease progression and the efficacy of different interventions, such as physical therapy or corticosteroid injections. However, most gait analysis research only utilizes these sensors within highly controlled settings, which ultimately lack real-world relevance. This project will fulfill a need to better understand not only the quality of data, but the sensitivity to changes that can be expected in remote collections as compared to in-person collections, to lead research out of the lab and into the real world.