Wearable Instrumented Insoles for Continuous Gait Monitoring for Daily-Life Rehabilitation Support

This work presents a non-intrusive, wearable system for continuous gait monitoring designed to overcome the limitations of clinical-based assessment. The device consists of insoles embedding force-sensitive resistive sensors at key plantar locations, connected to a microcontroller to process data in real-time and transmit gait metrics wirelessly to user devices. Each insole incorporates three pressure sensors positioned at the heel and metatarsal heads to capture temporal dynamics and bilateral asymmetries. Real-time algorithms detect heel strikes and compute cadence, contact time, and symmetry indices while providing intuitive color-coded feedback through a web-based interface. Validation with six healthy adults demonstrated robust performance with 98.5% bilateral step detection agreement, average cadence of 112 steps/minute consistent with average values, and successful detection of induced gait asymmetries within 3–5 gait cycles. This non-intrusive solution enables prolonged home-based monitoring of gait quality, supporting rehabilitation programs and early detection of walking abnormalities outside traditional clinical settings.