Movement Quantification in Neurological Diseases: Methods and Applications

The movement of the human body offers neurologists important clues for the diagnosis and follow-up of many neurological diseases. The typical diagnosis approach is accomplished through simple observation of movements of interest (MOI) associated with a specific neurological disease. This approach is highly subjective because it is mainly based on qualitative evaluation of MOIs. Quantitative movement techniques are then obvious diagnosis-aid systems to approach these cases. Nevertheless, the use of motion quantification techniques in these pathologies is still relatively rare. In this paper, we intend to review this area and provide a clear picture of the current state of the art, both in the methods used and their applications to the main movement-related neurological diseases. We approach some historic aspects and the current state of the motion capture techniques and present the results of a survey to the literature that includes 82 papers, since 2006, covering the usage of these techniques in neurological diseases. Furthermore, we discuss the pros and cons of using quantitative approaches in these clinical scenarios. Finally, we present some conclusions and discuss the trends we foresee for the future.