Patent ID: 8002672

Claim:
Gait analysis apparatus using a treadmill, comprising; an endless belt guided over at least two rollers, having an upper surface which serves as walking surface; a sensor system configured to determine a pressure/force distribution on a measurement plate located underneath the endless belt and having a plurality of pressure/force sensors arranged in a matrix on a side facing the treadmill belt; an analyzing unit connected to the pressure/force sensors on an input side, generating pressure distribution images from data received from the pressure/force sensors and detecting positions of the pressure distribution images from a vertebrate walking on the treadmill belt; a processing unit, which is connected to the analyzing unit on an input side and generates measuring parameters for characterizing the gait of the vertebrate from a time and position dependence of the pressure distribution images; and at least one base force sensor; wherein the measurement plate comprising the plurality of pressure/force sensors is directly supported by the at least one base force sensor and the analyzing unit comprises an additional input signal from each signal output of the at least one base force sensor and a signal processing stage for processing the output signal of each base force sensor by the processing unit, and determining a calibration or correction of the output signals of the pressure/force sensors.