IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v18y2021i11p5958-d567356.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A Velostat-Based Pressure-Sensitive Mat for Center-of-Pressure Measurements: A Preliminary Study

Author

Listed:
  • Javier Martinez-Cesteros

    (EduQTech, E.U. Politécnica, University of Zaragoza, 44003 Teruel, Spain)

  • Carlos Medrano-Sanchez

    (EduQTech, E.U. Politécnica, University of Zaragoza, 44003 Teruel, Spain
    Aragón Health Research Institute, IIS Aragón, University of Zaragoza, 50009 Zaragoza, Spain)

  • Inmaculada Plaza-Garcia

    (EduQTech, E.U. Politécnica, University of Zaragoza, 44003 Teruel, Spain
    Aragón Health Research Institute, IIS Aragón, University of Zaragoza, 50009 Zaragoza, Spain)

  • Raul Igual-Catalan

    (EduQTech, E.U. Politécnica, University of Zaragoza, 44003 Teruel, Spain
    Aragón Health Research Institute, IIS Aragón, University of Zaragoza, 50009 Zaragoza, Spain)

  • Sergio Albiol-Pérez

    (EduQTech, E.U. Politécnica, University of Zaragoza, 44003 Teruel, Spain
    Aragón Health Research Institute, IIS Aragón, University of Zaragoza, 50009 Zaragoza, Spain)

Abstract

Center-of-pressure (CoP) displacements play a key role in studies assessing postural stability. The accepted instrument to measure CoP trajectories is the force platform, but pressure-sensitive mats (PSMs) are an alternative composed of a matrix of sensitive cells. A typical cell comprises two electrodes with piezoresistive material in between, while a force platform has a force sensor at each of its corners. In this paper, we compare a homemade Velostat-based PSM and an affordable commercial mat with a commercial force platform in a test series with 42 healthy volunteers in single-legged trials (29 males, 13 females; height 1.74 (0.09) m, weight 74.3 (16.34) kg, age 31.21 (12.66) years). The aim of the research was to perform a preliminary study of the performance of our prototype to measure CoP, and more specifically, the standard deviation of the CoP path on both axes, the medial–lateral and anterior–posterior. We could thus discover several improvements for future clinical applications. The intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) for agreement in the base experiment showed a moderate value for the prototype (0.38 to 0.63) and lower values for the commercial mat (0.11 to 0.12). However, we identified several factors that were relevant to improve ICC and reduce error by considering several processing options: (i) the known crosstalk problem between cells that appears in this kind of mats must be eliminated; (ii) the response time of the sensor has to be taken into account; and (iii) increasing the mat resolution also improves agreement. Therefore, as future work, we plan to test the improved version of the prototype in a clinical environment.

Suggested Citation

  • Javier Martinez-Cesteros & Carlos Medrano-Sanchez & Inmaculada Plaza-Garcia & Raul Igual-Catalan & Sergio Albiol-Pérez, 2021. "A Velostat-Based Pressure-Sensitive Mat for Center-of-Pressure Measurements: A Preliminary Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(11), pages 1-13, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:11:p:5958-:d:567356
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/11/5958/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/11/5958/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Baoliang Chen & Peng Liu & Feiyun Xiao & Zhengshi Liu & Yong Wang, 2021. "Review of the Upright Balance Assessment Based on the Force Plate," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(5), pages 1-14, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Katarzyna Kniaziew-Gomoluch & Andrzej Szopa & Tomasz Łosień & Jan Siwiec & Zenon Kidoń & Małgorzata Domagalska-Szopa, 2023. "Reliability and Repeatability of a Postural Control Test for Preterm Infants," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(3), pages 1-11, January.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ángel Gabriel Estévez-Pedraza & Enrique Hernandez-Laredo & María Elena Millan-Guadarrama & Rigoberto Martínez-Méndez & María Fernanda Carrillo-Vega & Lorena Parra-Rodríguez, 2022. "Reliability and Usability Analysis of an Embedded System Capable of Evaluating Balance in Elderly Populations Based on a Modified Wii Balance Board," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(17), pages 1-21, September.
    2. Iva Fiedorová & Eva Mrázková & Mariana Zádrapová & Hana Tomášková, 2022. "Receiver Operating Characteristic Curve Analysis of the Somatosensory Organization Test, Berg Balance Scale, and Fall Efficacy Scale–International for Predicting Falls in Discharged Stroke Patients," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(15), pages 1-12, July.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:11:p:5958-:d:567356. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.