Estimation of Ground Reaction Forces from Kinematic Data during Locomotion

2026-02-03

AI Summary

This study addresses the clinical limitations imposed by the reliance on force plates in gait analysis, which hinder widespread deployment. To overcome this constraint, the authors propose a fully kinematics-based method for estimating and decomposing ground reaction forces (GRF) without the use of force plates. Leveraging motion capture data from 16 body segments, the approach reconstructs GRF with high accuracy by estimating whole-body center of mass dynamics, identifying gait phases, and applying an optimization-based minimization algorithm. Experimental validation demonstrates that GRF can be reliably estimated using kinematic information alone, substantially enhancing the feasibility and practicality of biomechanical gait analysis in clinical settings.

Technology Category

• Computer Vision: Motion & Tracking
• Intelligent Robots: State Estimation
• Planning, Routing, and Scheduling: Activity and Plan Recognition

Application Category

• Graph Algorithms and Modeling for the Web: Efficient manipulation of static and dynamic Web-related graphs
• Web Mining and Content Analysis: Robustness and generalizability of Web mining methods
• User Modeling, Personalization and Recommendation: Metrics for user behavior and evaluating success

Abstract

Ground reaction forces (GRFs) provide fundamental insight into human gait mechanics and are widely used to assess joint loading, limb symmetry, balance control, and motor function. Despite their clinical relevance, the use of GRF remains underutilised in clinical workflows due to the practical limitations of force plate systems. In this work, we present a force-plate-free approach for estimating GRFs using only marker-based motion capture data. This kinematics only method to estimate and decompose GRF makes it well suited for widespread clinical depolyment. By using kinematics from sixteen body segments, we estimate the centre of mass (CoM) and compute GRFs, which are subsequently decomposed into individual components through a minimization-based approach. Through this framework, we can identify gait stance phases and provide access to clinically meaningful kinetic measures without a dedicated force plate system. Experimental results demonstrate the viability of CoM and GRF estimation based solely on kinematic data, supporting force-plate-free gait analysis.

Problem

• Ground Reaction Forces
• Kinematic Data
• Force Plate
• Gait Analysis
• Clinical Deployment

Innovation

• ground reaction force estimation
• kinematics-only approach
• force-plate-free
• center of mass
• gait analysis