Ugo Della Croce

Ugo Della Croce
Università degli Studi di Sassari | UNISS · Dipartimento di Scienze Biomediche

PhD

About

258
Publications
94,080
Reads
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13,269
Citations
Additional affiliations
August 2019 - present
The Catholic University of America
Position
  • Professor (Full)
October 2017 - present
Università degli Studi di Sassari
Position
  • Professor (Full)
July 2003 - present
Harvard Medical School
Position
  • Lecturer

Publications

Publications (258)
Article
Full-text available
Background Gait analysis aids in evaluation, classification, and follow-up of gait pattern over time in children with cerebral palsy (CP). The analysis of sagittal plane joint kinematics is of special interest to assess flexed knee gait and ankle joint deviations that commonly progress with age and indicate deterioration of gait. Although most chil...
Article
Full-text available
Step length is an important diagnostic and prognostic measure of health and disease. Wearable devices can estimate step length continuously (e.g., in clinic or real-world settings), however, the accuracy of current estimation methods is not yet optimal. We developed machine-learning models to estimate step length based on data derived from a single...
Article
Background Real‐world monitoring using wearable sensors has enormous potential for assessing disease severity and symptoms among persons with Parkinson's disease (PD). Many distinct features can be extracted, reflecting multiple mobility domains. However, it is unclear which digital measures are related to PD severity and are sensitive to disease p...
Article
Full-text available
Introduction: Accurately assessing people’s gait, especially in real-world conditions and in case of impaired mobility, is still a challenge due to intrinsic and extrinsic factors resulting in gait complexity. To improve the estimation of gait-related digital mobility outcomes (DMOs) in real-world scenarios, this study presents a wearable multi-sen...
Article
Full-text available
The analysis of the stability of human gait may be effectively performed when estimates of the base of support are available. The base of support area is defined by the relative position of the feet when they are in contact with the ground and it is closely related to additional parameters such as step length and stride width. These parameters may...
Preprint
Full-text available
Accurately assessing people's gait, especially in real-world conditions and in case of impaired mobility, is still a challenge due to intrinsic and extrinsic factors resulting in gait complexity. To improve the estimation of gait-related digital mobility outcomes (DMOs) in real-world scenarios, this study presents a wearable multi-sensor system (IN...
Article
Full-text available
Clinical gait analysis is a diagnostic tool often used for identifying and quantifying gait alterations in cerebral palsy (CP) patients. To date, 3D clinical gait analysis protocols based on motion capture systems featuring multiple infrared cameras and retroreflective markers to be attached to the subject’s skin are considered the gold standard. H...
Article
Introduction Movements in infants have age-specific characteristics which could be quantified by extracting specific metrics based on the kinematics of General Movements (GM). For this purpose, a number of metrics have been proposed [1,2]. However the latter have been often obtained using complex and expensive experimental setups. The aim of this s...
Article
Full-text available
Cerebral palsy, the most common childhood neuromotor disorder, is often diagnosed through visual assessment of general movements (GM) in infancy. This skill requires extensive training and is thus difficult to implement on a large scale. Automated analysis of GM performed using low-cost instrumentation in the home may be used to estimate quantitati...
Conference Paper
Quantitative biomarkers of infant motion may be predictive of the development of movement disorders. This study presents and validates a low cost, markerless motion tracking method for the estimation of upper body kinematics of infants from which proper biomarkers may be extracted. The method requires a single RGB-D camera, a 2D motion tracking sof...
Preprint
Full-text available
Quantitative biomarkers of infant motion may be predictive of the development of movement disorders. This study presents and validates a low cost, markerless motion tracking method for the estimation of upper body kinematics of infants from which proper biomarkers may be extracted. The method requires a single RGB-D camera, a 2D motion tracking sof...
Article
Full-text available
Objective : To assess the feasibility of a Hand Use and Grasp Sensor (HUGS) system in collecting and quantifying fine motor development longitudinally in an infant's home environment. Design : Cohort study. Researchers made home visits monthly to participating families to collect grasp data from infants using HUGS. Setting : Data collection were...
Article
Full-text available
Treadmill training with virtual reality (TT + VR) has been shown to improve gait performance and to reduce fall risk in Parkinson’s disease (PD). However, there is no consensus on the optimal training duration. This study is a sub-study of the V-TIME randomized clinical trial (NCT01732653). In this study, we explored the effect of the duration of t...
Conference Paper
Gait analysis is commonly performed in standardized environments, but there is a growing interest in assessing gait also in ecological conditions. In this regard, an important limitation is the lack of an accurate mobile gold standard for validating any wearable system, such as continuous monitoring devices mounted on the trunk or wrist. This study...
Article
The accurate identification of initial and final foot contacts is a crucial prerequisite for obtaining a reliable estimation of spatio-temporal parameters of gait. Well-accepted gold standard techniques in this field are force platforms and instrumented walkways, which provide a direct measure of the foot-ground reaction forces. Nonetheless, these...
Article
Full-text available
The orientation of a magneto-inertial measurement unit can be estimated using a sensor fusion algorithm (SFA). However, orientation accuracy is greatly affected by the choice of the SFA parameter values which represents one of the most critical steps. A commonly adopted approach is to fine-tune parameter values to minimize the difference between es...
Article
Full-text available
The objectives of this study were to assess the accuracy and precision of a system combining an IMU-instrumented sock and a validated algorithm for the estimation of the spatio-temporal parameters of gait. A total of 25 healthy participants (HP) and 21 patients with foot impairments secondary to psoriatic arthritis (PsA) performed treadmill walking...
Conference Paper
Full-text available
Magneto and Inertial technology is a promising alternative to optical stereophotogrammetry since it allows to measure the movement in the subjects' ecological environments. Despite several sensor fusion filters for estimating the orientation have been published in the literature, there is still the lack of consensus about their accuracy. This work...
Article
Background: It is not clear how specific gait measures reflect disease severity across the disease spectrum in Parkinson's disease (PD). Objective: To identify the gait and mobility measures that are most sensitive and reflective of PD motor stages and determine the optimal sensor location in each disease stage. Methods: Cross-sectional wearab...
Article
Full-text available
The orientation of a magneto and inertial measurement unit (MIMU) is estimated by means of sensor fusion algorithms (SFAs) thus enabling human motion tracking. However, despite several SFAs implementations proposed over the last decades, there is still a lack of consensus about the best performing SFAs and their accuracy. As suggested by recent lit...
Conference Paper
Magneto-Inertial technology is a promising alternative to optical stereophotogrammetry as it allows to measure the movement of subjects in real world conditions. Despite several sensor fusion filters for estimating the orientation have been published in the literature, there is still a lack of consensus about their accuracy. This work aims at evalu...
Article
Full-text available
Historical, educational, and technical barriers have been reported to limit the use of surface electromyography (sEMG) in clinical neurorehabilitation settings. In an attempt to identify, review, rank, and interpret potential factors that may play a role in this scenario, we gathered information on (1) current use of sEMG and its clinical potential...
Poster
Gait analysis is commonly performed in controlled environments. However, there is a growing interest in methods assessing motor performance in free-living conditions. Inertial measurement units (IMU) constitute a valid solution in the estimation of spatio-temporal gait parameters. However, performance of IMU-based methods is influenced by several f...
Preprint
Magneto-Inertial Measurement Units (MIMUs) are a valid alternative tool to optical stereophotogrammetry in human motion analysis. The orientation of a MIMU may be estimated by using sensor fusion algorithms. Such algorithms require input parameters that are usually set using a trial-and-error (or grid-search) approach to find the optimal values. Ho...
Article
Magneto-Inertial Measurement Units (MIMUs) are a valid alternative tool to optical stereophotogrammetry in human motion analysis. The orientation of a MIMU may be estimated by using sensor fusion algorithms. Such algorithms require input parameters that are usually set using a trial-and-error (or grid-search) approach to find the optimal values. Ho...
Article
There is a growing body of literature about the efficacy in neurorehabilitation of the devices providing rhythmic auditory stimulations or visual-auditory stimulations, such as videogames, for guiding the patients' movements. Despite being presented as tools able to motivate patients, their efficacy was not been proven yet, probably due to the limi...
Article
Full-text available
Many studies have investigated the bilateral upper limb coordination during movements under different motor and visual conditions. Bilateral training has also been proposed as an effective rehabilitative protocol for patients with stroke. However, the factors influencing in-phase vs. anti-phase coupling have not yet been fully explored. In this stu...
Conference Paper
This study aimed at estimating the base of support (BoS) during gait with an unobtrusive wearable system. The BoS is the area identified by the points of contact of the body with the ground. During the double-support phase of gait both feet contribute to the BoS. The BoS is a measure of the subject's balance. The estimation of the BoS outdoors is s...
Article
Background. People with Parkinson’s disease and freezing of gait (FOG+) have more falls, postural instability and cognitive impairment compared with FOG−. Objective. To conduct a secondary analysis of the V-TIME study, a randomized, controlled investigation showing a greater reduction of falls after virtual reality treadmill training (TT + VR) comp...
Article
Full-text available
Objective-To design and test a motion analysis protocol for the gait analysis of adult German Shepherd (GS) dogs with a focus in the analyses of their back movements. Animals-Eight clinically healthy adult large-sized GS dogs (age, 4 ± 1.3 years; weight, 38.8 ± 4.2 kg). Procedures-A six-camera stereo-photogrammetric system and two force platforms w...
Article
Full-text available
BACKGROUND Physical activity is linked to many positive health outcomes, stimulating the development of exercise programs. However, many falls occur whilst walking and so promoting activity might paradoxically increase fall rates, causing injuries and worse quality of life. The relationship between activity exposure and fall rates remains unclear....
Conference Paper
Full-text available
This paper deals with the design of a wearable multi-sensor system (INDIP) that exploits a synergistic integration of different sensor types to provide a "best available" solution for digital gait assessment in real world scenarios.
Conference Paper
Full-text available
Magneto-Inertial technology is an established alternative to optical motion capture for studying human movement. However, accuracy of its orientation estimation is still an open issue. In this study, we performed a concurrent validation of four common sensor fusion algorithms at three different speeds. A motion-specific fine-tuning of the filters p...
Conference Paper
Full-text available
The aim of this study is to test and validate a novel step counter method (DiSC) based on distance and inertial measurements recorded using a single wearable prototype system (SWING DS) applied to one of the ankles. Thirteen patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) performed a six-minute walking test (6MWT), for a total of 6,876 steps recorded. The Di...
Conference Paper
This article has been withdrawn at the request of the author(s) and/or editor. The Publisher apologizes for any inconvenience this may cause. The full Elsevier Policy on Article Withdrawal can be found at https://www.elsevier.com/about/our-business/policies/article-withdrawal
Article
This article has been withdrawn at the request of the author(s) and/or editor. The Publisher apologizes for any inconvenience this may cause. The full Elsevier Policy on Article Withdrawal can be found at https://www.elsevier.com/about/our-business/policies/article-withdrawal
Article
This article has been withdrawn at the request of the author(s) and/or editor. The Publisher apologizes for any inconvenience this may cause. The full Elsevier Policy on Article Withdrawal can be found at https://www.elsevier.com/about/our-business/policies/article-withdrawal
Conference Paper
This article has been withdrawn at the request of the author(s) and/or editor. The Publisher apologizes for any inconvenience this may cause. The full Elsevier Policy on Article Withdrawal can be found at https://www.elsevier.com/about/our-business/policies/article-withdrawal
Conference Paper
Step detection is commonly performed using wearable inertial devices. However, methods based on the extraction of signals features may deteriorate their accuracy when applied to very slow walkers with abnormal gait patterns. The aim of this study is to test and validate an innovative step counter method (DiSC) based on the direct measurement of int...
Conference Paper
Magneto-Inertial technology is a well-established alternative to optical motion capture for human motion analysis applications since it allows prolonged monitoring in free-living conditions. Magneto and Inertial Measurement Units (MIMUs) integrate a triaxial accelerometer, a triaxial gyroscope and a triaxial magnetometer in a single and lightweight...
Article
Introduction: Recent work suggests that wearables can augment conventional measures of Parkinson's disease (PD). We evaluated the relationship between conventional measures of disease and motor severity (e.g., MDS-UPDRS part III), laboratory-based measures of gait and balance, and daily-living physical activity measures in patients with PD. Metho...
Article
Full-text available
Background The traditional evaluation of gait in the laboratory during structured testing has provided important insights, but is limited by its “snapshot” character and observation in an unnatural environment. Wearables enable monitoring of gait in real-world environments over a week. Initial findings show that in-lab and real-world measures diffe...
Preprint
Accurate step detection is crucial for the estimation of gait spatio-temporal parameters. Although several step detection methods based on the use of inertial measurement units (IMUs) have been successfully proposed, they may not perform adequately when the foot is dragged while walking, when walking aids are used, or when walking at low speed. The...
Article
Objectives: Among different exercise models proposed for individuals with Parkinson’s disease (IwPD), the popularity of traditional forms of dance is increasing. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of Sardinian folk dance (Ballu Sardu, BS) on functional performance and motor and nonmotor symptoms in IwPD. Design: Single-blind, randomi...
Article
Full-text available
Background and purpose — Gait analysis is indicated in children with cerebral palsy (CP) to identify and quantify gait deviations. One particularly difficult-to-treat deviation, crouch gait, can progress in adolescence and ultimately limit the ability to ambulate. An objective quantitative assessment is essential to early identify progressive gait...
Conference Paper
Full-text available
The detection and characterization of U-turns during locomotion using Magneto-Inertial Measurement Units (MIMU) with the goal of segmenting the walking trial into straight walking bouts and turns is an open issue currently under investigation. Typically, a MIMU located on the lower back or trunk is used to this purpose and turns onset timing and du...
Article
Full-text available
Background: The use of miniaturized magneto-inertial measurement units (MIMUs) allows for an objective evaluation of gait and a quantitative assessment of clinical outcomes. Spatial and temporal parameters are generally recognized as key metrics for characterizing gait. Although several methods for their estimate have been proposed, a thorough err...
Conference Paper
Full-text available
The aim of this study was to apply a well-documented IMU-based method to measure gait spatio-temporal parameters in a large number of healthy and gait-impaired subjects, and evaluate its robustness and validity across two clinical centers.
Article
Full-text available
Gait analysis is recognized as a useful assessment tool in the field of human movement research. However, doubts remain on its real effectiveness as a clinical tool, i.e. on its capability to change the diagnostic-therapeutic practice. In particular, the conditions in which evidence of a favorable cost-benefit ratio is found and the methodology for...
Article
Full-text available
Magneto-inertial measurement units (MIMU) are a suitable solution to assess human motor performance both indoors and outdoors. However, relevant quantities such as step width and base of support, which play an important role in gait stability, cannot be directly measured using MIMU alone. To overcome this limitation, we developed a wearable platfor...
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