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From assessing clinical patients to capturing accurate research data, Vicon provides a range of optical and digital video systems designed specifically to suit your needs in any Life Science or Gait environment.

CLINCALLY ACCEPTED MODELS
Thousands of trials from sites all over the world have been captured and analyzed using Vicon solutions over the past 27 years, and Vicon is the clear choice for accurate data and application-specific flexibility. The protocol is well understood, clearly documented and thoroughly researched. From Vicon Clinical Manager (VCM) launched in 1992, to the release of the current Plug-in Gait, you can rely on Vicon as your trusted partner for industry-leading Gait research and analysis.

EASY TO USE
Unlike other Gait Analysis systems, working with Vicon’s T-Series system doesn’t require an engineering degree. It has been designed for the clinician who cares about the patient, not the technology. To this end, the software offers a friendly user interface to make the measurement and analysis processes straightforward. You won’t have to spend time on complex training courses or thumbing through manuals trying to remember how the system worked – just turn it on and away you go.

HIGHLY ACCURATE
Vicon has consistently delivered product innovations to continually upgrade the accuracy of the system. It was the first to introduce dynamic calibration to the mainstream. Today, regardless of resolution, from 1 to 16 Megapixels, every Vicon T-Series camera captures grayscale information. This enables the system to more accurately define the center of each captured marker – every step of the way, accuracy is the focus.

COMPLETE AND INTEGRATED SOLUTIONS
Vicon can supply everything you need for your integrated gait analysis solution. Capture highly accurate movement information along with synchronized data streams from other measurement and video devices including force plates, EMG (Electromyography) systems, and reference digital videos, all accessed through one easy-to-use Vicon software platform. Save time and effort by sourcing your force plates and EMG systems directly through our software, as we are distributors for the highest quality brands of
these components in the world.

AUTOMATIC PROCESSING
The post-walk analysis process can be set up to be completely automated – from automatic marker labeling and automatic event detection (such as foot strikes) to automatic biomechanical modeling (such as calculating joint moments). As soon as the patient has finished the walk, the system completes all the necessary analysis steps without the operator having to lift a finger. This means the patient can turn around straightaway and start another walk – better for the patient and better for you.

UNIQUE MULTIMEDIA REPORTS
Vicon’s unique reporting software, Polygon, is fully integrated with our data recording software, enabling your gait analysis data to be visualized as soon as a walk has been completed. Polygon reports incorporate data captured in Nexus including joint angles, moments, and powers, along with text files, data tables, AVI files, pictures, and even web pages to give you complete customizability. Any report can be saved as a template, improving efficiency and ensuring you spend more of your time with patients rather than recreating the same reports. Polygon can also average data, allow you to build a normative database, make  comparisons between multiple subjects, display muscle modeling, and can be exported to Microsoft®
Word for easy printing.

EASY EXPORT TO MICROSOFT© OFFICE
Vicon makes it easy to get the measured data from the system into the Microsoft© Office set of desktop applications. This is useful when you want to do further data analysis or processing in Microsoft® Excel or refine a report in Microsoft® Word. Full export facilities are offered at all stages of the capture process – you can export the raw captured marker data, the results from the biomechanical model and even the finished clinical report – you decide.

HIGH QUALITY, COMPLETE GAIT ANALYSIS
In summary, the Vicon system allows a complete Gait Analysis of a patient to be performed with maximum attention focused on the patient’s movement patterns rather than system operation. All of the measurement equipment – Vicon T-Series digital optical cameras, force plates, EMG systems and standard video cameras - are fully synchronized and can deliver data straight to the reporting software for immediate analysis. Vicon offers the complete solution.

Analysis Process

The technology underpinning the Vicon T-Series solution is based on small retro-reflective markers attached to specific landmarks on a patient’s body. The Vicon cameras emit strobed light, which reflects back into the cameras from the markers giving a clear, grayscale view of each marker. The coordinate location of each marker is then calculated within the camera from the grayscale image of the marker and forwarded to a central PC. This PC receives coordinates from all the cameras and automatically tracks the markers to establish highly accurate 3D trajectories.

A typical Gait Analysis session consists of three parts: patient preparation, data recording and data analysis.

1. Patient preparation
During the preparation phase, certain anatomical patient measurements (such as knee width and ankle width) are taken and markers are attached. These positions and measurements are well known and have been thoroughly validated (starting with Davis, Ounpuu, Tyburski, Gage. A Gait Analysis Collection and Reduction Technique. Human Movement Science 1991;10;575-87).

2. Data recording
Now with the markers attached, the subject walks across the capture volume a number of times, recording a number of walks. Vicon T-Series optimizes this process by automating (either partially or completely) the recording process within Vicon's capture software, Nexus . So as soon as the patient has finished the walk, the system can complete all the necessary calculations without the operator having to lift a finger. Thus, the patient can turn around straight away and start another walk instead of having to wait for the operator to finish tedious tasks.

It’s not just 3D movement data which can be captured within Nexus . Force plate, EMG and digital video data are also often captured depending on the needs of the clinician and patient. Force plates from a wide range of manufacturers, including AMTI, Kistler, Bertec and Kyowa Dengyo, can all be used with the system to provide ground reaction force data as the patient steps on them. The positions of the force plates relative to the Vicon T-Series cameras are known, and this enables the system to calculate joint moments, forces and powers in addition to the joint angles. All this synchronized data, all from a single click.

3. Data analysis
The recorded data is then processed using a validated model and presented in a Gait Analysis report for review, interpretation and discussion. The clinically validated biomechanical model combines the movement, force plate and EMG data with patient specific measurements to calculate the joint center locations, segment orientations, three dimensional joint angles and moments.

Polygon, Vicon’s unique multimedia presentation and analysis tool, offers a unique way to visualize and present the gait assessment. Polygon and its free-to-distribute viewer enables the gait lab to produce not just a paper report, but a full patient presentation containing interactive graphs, video, printable charts and pretty much every piece of information which can be derived from the trial .This enables the Consultant or other referring physician to get more than just a paper report. With Polygon they can explore and interrogate the data to get a clearer picture of the patient’s movements.

The unique ease of Vicon's T-Series use, coupled with proven high accuracy offers clinicians and patients a complete solution.

Relevant Products

BASE SYSTEM
Vicon T-Series Hardware The most advanced, most accurate digital optical Vicon system to date. The networked T-Series cameras combined with the MX Giganet offers a complete gait lab solution.

Vicon Bonita Building on more than 25 years of innovation, Bonita is the new generation optical capture camera. Our smallest camera reliably streams the precise motion of people, animals and machines.

Vicon Nexus Easy to use, single click capture application. Vicon Nexus is used to drive the Vicon hardware. It includes Vicon MX’s integrated data management system, Eclipse. Supported by all the Vicon applications, this enables the user to easily locate, access and manipulate all the data files associated with a patient or trial – all the 3D data, force plate data, patient notes and so on. Everything is under one management system.

Vicon BodyBuilder In addition to clinical gait analysis, Vicon systems can also be used to conduct research in Biomechanics. Vicon BodyBuilder Software is designed specifically to make the creation
and implementation of custom biomechanical models quick and easy. Combining the powerful scripting language, BodyLanguage, and intuitive user interface, BodyBuilder is currently in use at over 300 sites worldwide. Models created in Vicon BodyBuilder can run within the Nexus pipeline.

Vicon Polygon with Plug-in Gait All the interactivity and excitement of multimedia reporting in Polygon, combined with the reliability and provability of using the world’s most established, most verified protocol for Clinical Gait Analysis in Plug-in Gait.

OPTIONS

Plug-in Modeler Plugs into Workstation to enable you to automatically process captured data through any custom model created in BodyBuilder.

OLGA Innovative technique to calculate joint centers and segment orientations more accurately and consistently [Charlton, Tate, Smyth, Roren: Repeatability of an Optimised Lower Body Model, Gait & Posture 20(2004), 213-221] by optimizing skeletal parameters based on measured movement across the entire trial.

External System Plug-ins.A wide variety of plug-ins are available for Vicon, including data exporters for LifeModeler and SIMM.

PECS Specifically designed for researchers who wish to incorporate their own export or processing algorithms into the automated workflow, the PECS plug-in allows full read/write access to the gait data from third-party applications, such as MatLab and Microsoft Excel.