Comparative analysis of the vertical component of ground reaction force during gait of healthy people and people with Parkinson’s disease

One of the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease is an abnormal gait cycle. Locomotion becomes slower, less sure, and gait very often leads to falls. This paper analyses the vertical component of the ground reaction force and pressure force for healthy subjects and those with Parkinson’s disease. The data used in the paper comes from the physionet.org website and includes the results of tests that were conducted with Ultraf lex Computer Dyno Graphy system Infronic insoles. The dataset contains recorded ground reaction forces during gait of 164 people, including 71 healthy people and 93 people with Parkinson’s disease at varying degrees of disease severity as determined by the Hoehn-Yahr scale. The analysis showed statistically significant differences (α ≤ 0.05) between the highest value and the local minimum of the vertical component of the ground reaction force. The course of the vertical component of the ground reaction force changed with increasing disease progression, characteristic gait phases disappeared, and the foot contacted the ground in a different way during the heel strike phase. This is due to the development of an abnormal gait pattern, which protects against falls and helps to maintain independence for longer. Gait testing and analysis of the vertical component of the ground reaction force can help to detect the disease earlier and therefore to implement treatment more quickly, resulting in a slower onset of symptoms.