Vertical Center-of-Mass Braking and Motor Performance during Gait Initiation in Young Healthy Adults, Elderly Healthy Adults, and Patients with Parkinson’s Disease: A Comparison of Force-Plate and Markerless Motion Capture Systems

Abstract

Background. This study tested the agreement between a markerless motion capture system and force-plate system (“gold standard”) to quantify stability control and motor performance during gait initiation. Methods. Healthy adults (young and elderly) and patients with Parkinson’s disease performed gait initiation series at spontaneous and maximal velocity on a system of two force-plates placed in series while being filmed by a markerless motion capture system. Signals from both systems were used to compute the peak of forward center-of-mass velocity (indicator of motor performance) and the braking index (indicator of stability control). Results. Descriptive statistics indicated that both systems detected between-group differences and velocity effects similarly, while a Bland–Altman plot analysis showed that mean biases of both biomechanical indicators were virtually zero in all groups and conditions. Bayes factor 01 indicated strong (braking index) and moderate (motor performance) evidence that both systems provided equivalent values. However, a trial-by-trial analysis of Bland–Altman plots revealed the possibility of differences >10% between the two systems. Conclusion. Although non-negligible differences do occur, a markerless motion capture system appears to be as efficient as a force-plate system in detecting Parkinson’s disease and velocity condition effects on the braking index and motor performance.