How to Improve Gait Analysis via Telehealth

Provision of O&P services via telehealth is challenging. However, stories with positive outcomes are beginning to emerge as digital health technology develops. As an orthotist/prosthetist in Australia assisting O&P service providers to progress their strategic plans, my company, Allied Health Specialist Consultants (AHSC), and our client, AbilityMade, are designing a telehealth service provision model to trial. Together we decided that to facilitate optimal prescription recommendations, the gait analysis aspect of assessment needs to be conducted by an orthotist as opposed to local health professionals of alternative expertise who may be able to assist with other tasks.

Therefore, we needed to identify a method of conducting gait analysis via telehealth, and we determined two key aspects to facilitate: capturing gait analysis for repeated viewing, and measuring active range of motion (ROM).