Investigation of soft tissue movement during level walking: translations and rotations of skin markers

Skin marker-based stereophotogrammetry is the most widely used technique for human motion analysis but its accuracy is mainly limited by soft tissue artifact (STA) which reflects the non-rigidity of human body segments during activities. To compensate for the effects of STA and improve the accuracy of motion analysis, it is critical to understand the behavior and characteristics of soft tissue movement. By using a non-invasive approach, this study investigated the soft tissue movement on the thigh and shank of twenty healthy subjects during level walking which is one of the most important human daily activities and the basic content of clinical gait analysis. With the measurement of inter-marker translations and rotations on each segment, a 4D picture (3D space and time) of soft tissue deformation on the thigh and shank during walking was quantified in terms of the positional and orientational change between different skin locations. Soft tissue deformation showed nonuniform distribution at different locations as well as along different directions. The range of inter-marker movement was found to be up to 19.1mm/19.6 degrees on the thigh and 9.3mm/8.6 degrees on the shank. Results in this study provide useful information for understanding soft tissue movement behavior and exploring better marker configurations. Inter-marker movement exhibited similar patterns across subjects. This finding suggests the possibility that STA has inter-subject similarity, which is contrary to the prevailing opinion. This new insight may lead to more effective STA compensation strategies for skin marker-based motion analysis.