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Clinically validated systems for the three dimensional gait assessment of children and adults. Vicon optical motion measurement and analysis systems have been used to assess the gait of adults and children for more than 20 years. Based on a widely validated protocol, Vicon Clinical Gait Analysis is the world standard for gait assessment.

PROVEN
Millions of trials from thousands of sites have been captured and analyzed with Vicon over the past 20 years - Vicon is the proven choice. Hundreds of research papers have been published in twenty different languages validating this approach to Clinical Gait Analysis. The protocol is well understood, clearly documented and thoroughly researched. From Vicon Clinical Manager (VCM) in 1992 through to Plug-in Gait today you can rely on this tried and tested approach.

EASY TO USE
Unlike other Gait Analysis systems, working with Vicon’s MX system doesn’t require an engineering degree. It has been designed for the clinician who cares about the patient, not the technology. To this end, the software offers a friendly user interface to make the measurement and analysis processes straightforward. You won’t have to spend time on complex training courses or thumbing through manuals trying to remember how the system worked – just turn it on and away you go.

HIGHLY ACCURATE
Vicon has consistently delivered product innovations to continually upgrade the accuracy of the system. It was the first to introduce dynamic calibration to the mainstream. Today, regardless of resolution, from 0.3 million to 16 million pixels, every Vicon MX camera captures grayscale information. This enables the system to more accurately define the center of each captured marker – every step of the way, accuracy is the focus.

INTEGRATED CAPTURE
In addition to highly accurate movement information, you can also capture synchronized data streams from other measurement and video devices, including force plates, EMG (Electromyography) systems and reference digital videos, all within the Vicon MX software. You don’t have to go to multiple software applications from different vendors. You don’t have to have special synchronization boxes. You can capture completely integrated data, all with a single click.

AUTOMATIC PROCESSING
The post-walk analysis process can be set up to be completely automated – from automatic marker labeling and automatic event detection (such as foot strikes) to automatic biomechanical modeling (such as calculating joint moments). As soon as the patient has finished the walk, the system completes all the necessary analysis steps without the operator having to lift a finger. This means the patient can turn around straightaway and start another walk – better for the patient and better for you.

UNIQUE MULTIMEDIA REPORTS
Vicon’s unique reporting software, Polygon, is fully integrated with the data recording software, enabling the gait analysis data to be visualized as soon as a walk has been completed. Thus, joint angle, moment and power graphs as well as a 3D model of the patient are available immediately. This enables gait lab staff to carry out an initial assessment of the patient's data before he or she has left the laboratory - which means that you will not run into problems with the data quality long after the patient has gone.

EASY EXPORT TO MICROSOFT© OFFICE
Vicon makes it easy to get the measured data from the system into the Microsoft© Office set of desktop applications. This is useful when you want to do further data analysis or processing in Microsoft® Excel or refine a report in Microsoft® Word. Full export facilities are offered at all stages of the capture process – you can export the raw captured marker data, the results from the biomechanical model and even the finished clinical report – you decide.

HIGH QUALITY, COMPLETE GAIT ANALYSIS
In summary, the Vicon system allows a complete Gait Analysis of a patient to be performed with maximum attention focused on the patient’s movement patterns rather than system operation. All of the measurement equipment – Vicon MX digital optical cameras, force plates, EMG systems and standard video cameras - are fully synchronized and can deliver data straight to the reporting software for immediate analysis. Vicon offers the complete solution.

Analysis Process

The technology underpinning the Vicon MX solution is based on small retro-reflective markers attached to specific landmarks on a patient’s body. The Vicon cameras emit strobed light, which reflects back into the cameras from the markers giving a clear, grayscale view of each marker. The co-ordinate location of each marker is then calculated within the camera from the grayscale image of the marker and forwarded to a central PC. This PC receives co-ordinates from all the cameras and automatically tracks the markers to establish highly accurate 3D trajectories.

A typical Gait Analysis session consists of three parts: patient preparation, data recording and data analysis.

1. Patient preparation
During the preparation phase, certain anatomical patient measurements (such as knee width and ankle width) are taken and markers are attached. These positions and measurements are well known and have been thoroughly validated (starting with Davis, Ounpuu, Tyburski, Gage. A Gait Analysis Collection and Reduction Technique. Human Movement Science 1991;10;575-87).

2. Data recording
Now with the markers attached, the subject walks across the capture volume a number of times, recording a number of walks. Vicon MX optimizes this process by automating (either partially or completely) the recording process within Vicon MX’s capture software, MX Nexus . So as soon as the patient has finished the walk, the system can complete all the necessary calculations without the operator having to lift a finger. Thus, the patient can turn around straight away and start another walk instead of having to wait for the operator to finish tedious tasks.

It’s not just 3D movement data which can be captured within MX Nexus . Force plate, EMG and digital video data are also often captured depending on the needs of the clinician and patient. Force plates from a wide range of manufacturers, including AMTI, Kistler, Bertec and Kyowa Dengyo, can all be used with the system to provide ground reaction force data as the patient steps on them. The positions of the force plates relative to the Vicon MX cameras are known, and this enables the system to calculate joint moments, forces and powers in addition to the joint angles. All this synchronized data, all from a single click.

3. Data analysis
The recorded data is then processed using a validated model and presented in a Gait Analysis report for review, interpretation and discussion. The clinically validated biomechanical model combines the movement, force plate and EMG data with patient specific measurements to calculate the joint center locations, segment orientations, three dimensional joint angles and moments.

Polygon, Vicon’s unique multimedia presentation and analysis tool, offers a unique way to visualize and present the gait assessment. Polygon and its free-to-distribute viewer enables the gait lab to produce not just a paper report, but a full patient presentation containing interactive graphs, video, printable charts and pretty much every piece of information which can be derived from the trial .This enables the Consultant or other referring physician to get more than just a paper report. With Polygon they can explore and interrogate the data to get a clearer picture of the patient’s movements.

Vicon MX’s unique ease of use coupled with proven high accuracy offers clinicians and patients a complete solution.

Relevant Products

BASE SYSTEM
Vicon MX Hardware. The most advanced, most accurate digital optical Vicon system to date. The networked MX cameras combined with the MX Giganet offers a complete gait lab solution.

Vicon MX Nexus . Easy to use, single click capture application, used to drive the Vicon MX hardware. It includes Vicon MX’s integrated data management system, Eclipse. Supported by all the MX applications, this enables the user to easily locate, access and manipulate all the data files associated with a patient or trial – all the 3D data, force plate data, patient notes and so on. Everything is under one management system.

Vicon Polygon with Plug-in Gait. All the interactivity and excitement of multimedia reporting in Polygon, combined with the reliability and provability of using the world’s most established, most verified protocol for Clinical Gait Analysis in Plug-in Gait.

OPTIONS
BodyBuilder. Flexible kinematic and kinetic modeling tool enabling the creation of completely custom models through its built-in, optimized scripting system, BodyLanguage

Plug-in Modeler. Plugs into MX Workstation to enable you to automatically process captured data through any custom model created in BodyBuilder.

OLGA. Innovative technique to calculate joint centers and segment orientations more accurately and consistently [Charlton, Tate, Smyth, Roren: Repeatability of an Optimised Lower Body Model, Gait & Posture 20(2004), 213-221] by optimizing skeletal parameters based on measured movement across the entire trial.

External System Plug-ins. A wide variety of plug-ins is available for Vicon, including data exporters for LifeModeler and SIMM.

DV Video. Simply and inexpensively capture digital video (DV) movies synchronized with Vicon MX 3D data, all set up and controlled through MX Workstation capture software.

PECS. Specifically designed for researchers who wish to incorporate their own export or processing algorithms into the automated workflow, the PECS plug-in allows full read/write access to the gait data from third-party applications, such as MatLab and Microsoft Excel.