TELEMEDICINE 2027 Open access

Inertial sensor-based evaluation of trunk control during gait after targeted strengthening training in facioscapulohumeral dystrophy

O. Crisafulli,1 S. Sozzi,2 M. Fortunati,1,3 V. Quintiero,1 S. Ramat,2,4 M. Schmid,2 G. D’Antona1,4 | 1Centro di Ricerca Interdipartimentale Attività Motorie e Sportive - Sport Medicine Centre Voghera, University of Pavia, Voghera; 2Department of Electrical, Computer and Biomedical Engineering, University of Pavia; 3Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Tor Vergata, Rome; 4Department of Public Health, Experimental and Forensic Medicine, University of Pavia, Italy

Authors

Published
28 January 2026
Section
TELEMEDICINE 2027
DOI
10.4081/gimle.754

Abstract

Facioscapulohumeral dystrophy (FSHD) can cause trunk muscle weakness,1 impairing trunk control during gait.2 This study evaluated the effects of a targeted strengthening training on trunk movements during gait in patients with FSHD. Fifteen patients were assessed for trunk pitch and roll angles (°) during gait before (T0) and after (T1) training. Data were collected using an inertial sensor (BTS, G-Walk)3 and compared longitudinally, as well as with 23 healthy controls (HC). At T0, patients showed significantly higher roll values than HC (p<0.01), while pitch showed a non-significant increasing trend. At T1, roll significantly decreased (p<0.05), and the difference with HC was no longer significant (p=0.18), indicating normalization toward healthy values. These preliminary data suggest that targeted strengthening may improve gait-related trunk control in FSHD, and that sensor-based gait analysis can be useful for objective clinical assessment.

Keywords

References

  1. 1. Rijken NH, van der Kooi EL, Hendriks JC, et al. Skeletal muscle imaging in facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy, pattern and asymmetry of individual muscle involvement. Neuromuscul Disord 2014;24:1087-96. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nmd.2014.05.012
  2. 2. Crisafulli O, Sozzi S, Quintiero V, et al. Interplay between balance, gait kinematic and physical activity level in facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy. Sci Rep 2025;15:42973. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-26924-y
  3. 3. De Ridder R, Lebleu J, Willems T, et al. Concurrent Validity of a Commercial Wireless Trunk Triaxial Accelerometer System for Gait Analysis. J Sport Rehabil 2019;28:jsr.2018-0295. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1123/jsr.2018-0295

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