Diffusion entropy analysis on the stride interval fluctuation of human gait

In this paper, the diffusion entropy technique is applied to investigate the scaling behavior of stride interval fluctuations of human gait. The scaling behaviors of the stride interval of human walking at norm, slow, and fast rate are similar; with the scale-invariance exponents in the interval [0.663,0.955], of which the mean value is 0.821 +/- 0.011. Dynamical analysis of these stride interval fluctuations reveals a self-similar pattern: fluctuation at one time scale are statistically similar to those at multiple other time scales, at least over hundreds of steps, while the healthy subjects walk at their norm rate. The long-range correlations are observed during the spontaneous walking by removal of the trend in the time series with Fourier filter. These findings uncover that the fractal dynamics of stride interval fluctuation of human gait are normally intrinsic to the locomotor systems. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.