Use of the Krusen Limb Load Monitor to quantify temporal and loading measurements of gait.

The purposes of this investigation were to determine whether the temporal and force measurements from the Krusen Limb Load Monitor produced clinically reliable data and to begin identifying the factors that determine the monitor's reliability. Temporal and loading measurements were made from the output of the Krusen Limb Load Monitor and compared to values obtained from a calibrated force platform. Such comparisons were made for 30 steps taken by two subjects on three separate occasions and from the same two subjects plus a third subject for 100 consecutive steps. For most measures, mean values from the limb-load monitor were significantly different from those recorded from the force platform. From a clinical perceptive, however, the range of measures was narrow for the 95 percent confidence level of the observed differences for the temporal components of stance between the limb-load monitor and force platform, with the narrowest range of measures related to the appropriateness of "fit" of the limb-load monitor force plate within the shoe. The loading components of stance showed a relatively wide 95 percent confidence interval that appeared unrelated to fit. Thus, given a "good fitting" force plate insert, the therapist can make clinically meaningful measurements of the temporal components of the stance phase of gait using the limb-load monitor.