UNAIR NEWS – Undergrad students of Biomedical Engineering Universitas Airlangga in their creations and innovations have succeeded in creating shoes that can be used to analyze walking cycle, or known as gait cycle. Shoes that are named SWAN (Shoes for Walking) can be used to obtain data of foot pressure charts when walking. Pressure sensors are planted in the shoes, making it easier for use.

This success was later written in a scientific paper entitled SWAN Shoe Innovation for Gait Cycle Analysis. The proposal finally passed the selection for research grant from Ministry of Research, Technology and Higher Education in the Student Creativity Program (PKM) in 2018, in Invention category (PKM-KC).

Explained by Claudia Litania, the leader of this PKM-KC team, her team created SWAN because all this time the tool used in conducting gait cycles testing has a large dimension, and it can only be done on site. In the team Claudia has two partners; Ahda Nur Laila and Yoga Fingki Andrian.

The use of shoes for gait cycle analysis can simplify the testing because it can be done anywhere, and patients will not find it difficult in doing it because the test is only done by walking using the shoes that have been made.

“All this time the test (walking cycle) is less popular among the general public,” added Claudia.

In Indonesia alone, gait cycle test is not widely acknowledged by the community. One reason is the availability of equipment. Based on data from the World Health Organization (WHO), in 2012 approximately 500,000 people in Indonesia have disabilities due to musculoskeletal disease . It is ranked 9th among other diseases in Indonesia and it causes people to live in disability for the rest of their lives.

12 out of 100 Indonesians had difficulty to walk far, followed by difficulty to stand for 30 minutes. This proves that abnormalities in the Gait Cycle are one of the most urgent diseases in Indonesia, with low handling rates.

“We hope this innovation can facilitate and assist the community in conducting the test of the gait cycle. So when there are abnormalities in the way of walking can be handled quickly and precisely, “said Claudia Litania. (*)

Editor: Bambang Bes