Alan Godfrey

Northumbria University · School of Computing, Engineering and Information Sciences

Highlights • Maximum resting period (MRP) was assessed in community-based ambulation • Ambulation was objectively assessed with an accelerometer in 97 adults for 7 days • MRP impacts on volume, variability, pattern outcomes and attainment of guidelines • Standardised algorithms are needed to aid ambulatory interpretation The aim of this study was...

The aims of this study were to (i) investigate instrumented physical capability (iCap) as a valid method during a large study and (ii) determine whether iCap can provide important additional features of postural control and gait to categorise cohorts not previously possible with manual recordings. Cross-sectional analysis involving instrumented tes...

retirement is a major life change that is likely to affect lifestyles and yet little is still known about its influence on physical activity (PA). This study objectively quantified sedentary behaviour and ambulatory activity outcomes in retired and non-retired older, community-dwelling adults. PA was quantified in 98 community-dwelling older adults...

Quantitative running gait analysis is an important tool that provides beneficial outcomes to injury risk/recovery or performance assessment. Wearable devices have allowed running gait to be evaluated in any environment (i.e., laboratory or real-world settings), yet there are a plethora of different grades of devices (i.e., research-grade, commercia...

The adoption of digital technologies in healthcare, accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, requires a well-prepared workforce capable of implementing those technologies. Here, we examine the role and impact of digital fellowships in facilitating digital transformation in healthcare systems. Digital fellowships are structured educational programmes d...

Objective: This study aims to examine OMT in people with PD (PwPD) compared to healthy older adults. Identifying OMT as a PD biomarker could better support clinical assessment, enabling improved provision of care to patients with advanced disease monitoring. Background: Ocular microtremor (OMT) is a fixational eye movement that cannot be seen with...

Ocular microtremor (OMT) is the smallest of three involuntary fixational micro eye movements, which has led to it being under researched in comparison. The link between OMT and brain function generates a strong rationale for further study as there is potential for its use as a biomarker in populations with neurological injury and disease. This stru...

Fall risk assessment can be informed by understanding mobility/gait. Contemporary mobility analysis is being progressed by wearable inertial measurement units (IMU). Typically, IMUs gather temporal mobility-based outcomes (e.g., step time) from labs/clinics or beyond, capturing data for habitually informed fall risk. However, a thorough understandi...

Contemporary wearables like smartwatches are often equipped with advanced sensors and have associated algorithms to aid researchers monitor physiological outcomes like physical activity levels, sleep patterns or heart rate in free living environments. But here's the catch: all that valuable data is often collected separately because the sensors don...

Ocular microtremor (OMT) is a fixational eye movement that cannot be seen with the naked eye but is always present, even when the eye appears motionless/still. The link between OMT and brain function generates a strong rationale for investigation as there lies potential for its use as a biomarker in populations of neurological impairments. OMT freq...

Objective: The purpose of this study was to coproduce a smart-phone application for digital falls reporting in people with Parkinson disease (PD) and to determine usability using an explanatory mixed-methods approach. Methods: This study was undertaken in 3 phases. Phase 1 was the development phase, in which people with PD were recruited as co-r...

Normal ankle function provides a key contribution to everyday activities, particularly step/stair ascent and descent, where many falls occur. The rising to up-on-the-toes (UTT) 30 second test (UTT-30) is used in the clinical assessment of ankle muscle strength/function and endurance and is typically assessed by an observer counting the UTT movement...

Health and wellness/wellbeing are multifaceted topics further complicated when trying to understand environmental impact. Typically, there has been a one size fits all approach when trying to understand the 3-way interaction but that is a limited approach. Equally, measurement (of each) has often used a limited set of outcomes during short periods...

Walking/gait quality is a useful clinical tool to assess general health and is now broadly described as the sixth vital sign. This has been mediated by advances in sensing technology including instrumented walkways and three-dimensional motion capture. However, it is wearable technology innovation that has spawned the utmost growth in instrumented...

This book presents the proceedings of ICITS 2022 covering different tracks in the field of Sports Engineering and Technology, namely, Instrumentation, Materials, Data Analytics, Biomechanics, Simulation, Equipment Design and Performance Analysis, amongst others. This collection of articles deliberates the key challenges as well as technological inn...

Wearable technologies are becoming ever more popular as suggested tools for use in modern medicine. Studies evidence their growing pragmatism and provision of objective data for a more informative and personalised approach to patient care. Yet many wearables are one dimensional, despite the underlying technology being common across a large array of...

Advancements in Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) have enabled the manufacture of affordable and efficient wearable devices. In sensor-based gait analysis, motion and biofeedback sensor devices are easily attached to different parts of the body. Instrumentation of gait using different sensor technologies enables researchers and clinicians to ca...

Background: Monitoring Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) is important to better understand occupant health. Passive IEQ monitoring with digital technologies may provide insightful quan-titative data to better inform e.g., health interventions. Yet, many traditional approaches with known IEQ technologies have limited utility due to high costs or co...

Fall risk assessment needs contemporary approaches based on habitual data. Currently, inertial measurement unit (IMU) based wearables are used to inform free-living spatio-temporal gait characteristics to inform mobility assessment. Typically, a fluctuation of those characteristics will infer an increased fall risk. However, current approaches with...

Running gait assessment is essential for development of technique optimization strategies as well as to inform injury prevention and rehabilitation. Currently, running gait assessment relies on (i) visual assessment, exhibiting subjectivity and limited reliability, or (ii) use of instrumented approaches, which often carry high costs and can be intr...

Inertial sensor-based human activity recognition (HAR) has a range of healthcare applications as it can indicate overall health status or functional capabilities of people with impaired mobility. Typically, artificial intelligence models achieve high recognition accuracies when trained with rich and diverse inertial datasets. However, obtaining suc...

Background: Turning is a complex measure of gait that accounts for over 50% of daily steps. Traditionally, turning has been measured in a research grade la-boratory setting, however, there is demand for a low-cost and portable solution to measure turning using wearable technology. This study aimed to determine the suitability of a low-cost inertial...

Exploring the practicality and feasibility of multimodal Sports Related Concussion (SRC) assessments compared to the reference standard (SCAT5) in university athletes. Significant challenges remain in the monitoring and assessment of suspected Sports Related Concussion (SRC). The most commonly used mechanism within amateur sports, is the 5th versi...

Background Running gait assessment has traditionally been performed using subjective observation or expensive laboratory-based objective technologies, such as 3D motion capture or force plates. However, recent developments in wearable devices allow for continuous monitoring and analysis of running mechanics in any environment. Objective measurement...

Introduction: Following mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), patients are often advised to restrict physical activity until full symptom resolution followed by gradual return to activity. However, extended rest periods may prolong recovery and contribute to persistent symptoms. Emerging evidence suggests early active rehabilitation that increases he...

The mechanical output at the ankle provides key contribution to everyday activities, particularly step/stair ascent and descent. Age-related decline in ankle functioning can lead to an increased risk of falls on steps and stairs. The rising up-on-the-toes (UTT) 30-second test (UTT-30) is used in the clinical assessment of ankle muscle strength/func...

Buildings account for approximately 40% of the energy consumption across the European Union, so there is a requirement to strive for better energy performance to reduce the global impact of urbanised societies. However, energy performant buildings can negatively impact building occupants (e.g., comfort, health and/or wellbeing) due to a trade-off b...

Mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI or concussion) is receiving increased attention due to the incidence in contact sports and limitations with subjective (pen and paper) diagnostic approaches. If an mTBI is undiagnosed and the athlete prematurely returns to play, it can result in serious short-term and/or long-term health complications. This demonst...

Gait assessment is essential to understand injury prevention mechanisms during running, where high-impact forces can lead to a range of injuries in the lower extremities. Information regarding the running style to increase efficiency and/or selection of the correct running equipment, such as shoe type, can minimize the risk of injury, e.g., matchin...

Background Falls in older adults are a critical public health problem. As a means to assess fall risks, free-living digital biomarkers (FLDBs), including spatiotemporal gait measures, drawn from wearable inertial measurement unit (IMU) data have been investigated to identify those at high risk. Although gait-related FLDBs can be impacted by intrins...

Contemporary approaches to gait assessment use wearable devices within free-living environments to capture habitual information, which is more informative compared to data capture in the lab. Wearables range from inertial to camera-based technologies but pragmatic challenges such as analysis of big data from heterogenous environments exist. For exa...

BACKGROUND & AIM: Sports-Related Concussion (SRC) encompasses symptom, visual, cognitive and motor impairments, where accurate and timely recognition is crucial to reduce incidences of misdiagnosis, which can increase morbidity risk [1]. Yet current non-digital tools, e.g Sports Concussion Assessment Tool (SCAT5) criteria [2] relies on symptom reso...

Running gait assessment and running shoe recommendation is important for the injury prevention of runners who exhibit different skill-levels and running styles. Traditionally, running gait assessment for shoe recommendation relies upon a combination of trained professionals (e.g., sports-therapists, physiotherapists) and complex equipment such as m...

Eye movements are an important aspect of neurological clinical assessment, as abnormal eye movements can indicate underlying neurological and disease processes. Eye-tracking recordings are also often performed following neurological injury or disease in order to study the underlying neurological mechanisms involved in controlling eye movement. The...

This chapter will provide an overview of the past and current topics in eye movement research, which will be more widely addressed within the proceeding chapters in this book. A greater understanding of eye movements and how eye-tracking technology works, as well as what populations it is used with, will allow its application and adoption within pr...

Background: Physical function remains a crucial component of mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) assessment and recovery. Traditional approaches to assess mTBI lack sensitivity to detect subtle deficits post-injury, which can impact a patient’s quality of life, daily function and can lead to chronic issues. Inertial measurement units (IMU) provide a...

Purpose of the study: Ambulatory activity (walking) is affected after sarcoma surgery yet is not routinely assessed. Small inexpensive accelerometers could bridge the gap. Study objectives investigated, whether in patients with lower extremity musculoskeletal tumours: A) It was feasible to conduct ambulatory activity assessments in patient’s homes...

Running gait assessment is critical in performance optimization and injury prevention. Traditional approaches to running gait assessment are inhibited by unnatural running environments (e.g., indoor lab), varied assessor (i.e., subjective experience) and high costs with traditional reference standard equipment. Thus, development of valid, reproduce...

Wearables are objective tools for human activity recognition (HAR). Advances in wearables enable synchronized multi-sensing within a single device. This has resulted in studies investigating use of single or multiple wearable sensor modalities for HAR. Some studies use inertial data, others use surface electromyography (sEMG) from multiple muscles...

Objective: Older adults’ falls are a critical public health problem. The majority of free-living fall risk assessment methods have investigated fall predictive power of step-related digital biomarkers extracted from wearable inertial measurement unit (IMU) data. Alternatively, the examination of characteristics and frequency of naturally-occurring...

Introduction: Gait impairment occurs across the spectrum of traumatic brain injury (TBI); from mild (mTBI) to moderate (modTBI), to severe (sevTBI). Recent evidence suggests that objective gait assessment may be a surrogate marker for neurological impairment such as TBI. However, the most optimal method of objective gait assessment is still not we...

Background Pragmatic challenges remain in the monitoring and return to play (RTP) decisions following suspected Sports Related Concussion (SRC). Reliance on traditional approaches (pen and paper) means players readiness for RTP is often based on self-reported symptom recognition as a marker for full physiological recovery. Non-digital approaches al...

Background In clinics and rehabilitation centres, assessment of human motion, especially kinematics of the lower limb, is very important to determine suitable treatments for patients[1]. Motion capture systems and electronic goniometers are perceived as the reference standards for estimation of joint kinematics but are costly and have low accessibi...

Examining The Use Of Wearables For Remote Monitoring Of Balance, Gait And Sleep In Sports- Related Concussion : A Single Subject Study In Rugby Union

Purpose: Following a mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) diagnosis, patients are often advised based on current guidelines to restrict cognitive and physical activity (energy demands) until full symptom resolution, which is followed by a graduated return of increasing cognitive and physical activity levels. However, research has found extended peri...

Purpose: The severity of traumatic brain injury (TBI) ranges from mild (mTBI) to severe, with impairment in motor function across the spectrum. TBI can transcend from acute (days to weeks) to chronic (months to years) time periods, significantly impacting physical function and quality of life. Traditional TBI functional assessment is based on subje...

Purpose: Concussion is prevalent in young adult (YA) rugby players and can impact motor, cognitive and sensory dysfunction. Mobility Lab (v1) is a research-grade wearable sensor system for comprehensively assessing balance and gait. The use of wearable sensors within sports such as rugby may enable pitch-side physiotherapists and doctors to instant...

Purpose: Gait characteristics such as turning are commonly impaired in neurological conditions such as Parkinson’s disease and traumatic brain injury (TBI). Traditionally, these characteristics have been measured in a laboratory setting using expensive 3D motion capture or research-grade inertial sensor systems, such as the Opal (APDM Inc., Portlan...

Athletes that participate in contact sport are at risk of suffering Sports-Related Concussion (SRC). A traditional approach of SRC testing relies on the 5th version of the pen-and-paper based sports concussion assessment tool (SCAT5). An open, digital equivalent may facilitate more efficient and transparent assessment. We describe a co-created deve...

Instrumented balance and gait test are an important component of physical capability assessment in clinical examinations. This study provides insight to a new generation Open Movement inertial-based wearable (AX6, Axivity, UK) compared to a previously validated reference (AX3). The AX6 was assessed for its ability to quantify a battery of tasks tha...

Objective Challenges remain in sports-related concussion (SRC) assessment to better inform return to play. Reliance on self-reported symptoms within the Sports Concussion Assessment Tool means that there are limited data on the effectiveness of novel methods to assess a player’s readiness to return to play. Digital methods such as wearable technolo...

Objectives This interventional pilot study aimed to 1) examine whether a novel wearable vibro-tactile feedback device (‘UpRight Go’) effective and feasible to improve postural alignment in Parkinson’s disease (PD); 2) explore relationships between postural alignment and attention in PD; 3) explore effect of vibro-tactile device on balance and gait;...

Wearable inertial measurement units (IMUs) are used in gait analysis due to their discrete wearable attachment and long data recording possibilities within indoor and outdoor environments. Previously, lower back and shin/shank-based IMU algorithms detecting initial and final contact events (ICs-FCs) were developed and validated on a limited number...

Gait abnormalities are typically derived from neurological conditions or orthopaedic problems and can cause severe consequences such as limited mobility and falls. Gait analysis plays a crucial role in monitoring gait abnormalities and discovering underlying deficits can help develop rehabilitation programs. Contemporary gait analysis requires a mu...

Sports-Related Concussion (SRC) is defined as a mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) leading to complex impairment(s) in neurological function with many seemingly hidden or difficult to measure impairments that can deteriorate rapidly without any prior indication. Growing numbers of SRCs in professional and amateur contact sports has prompted closer...