Grant: Catalyst Grant: Digital Health

Cerebral palsy (CP), a core CIHR-IMHA priority, is the most common pediatric neuromotor disability. Access to gold-standard 3D motion analysis is limited by cost and regional variation. Our team has developed the Mobile Motion Lab (MML), a digital motion analysis platform that automates mobility assessment. MML uses smartphone camera, Artificial Intelligence (AI), and custom-made algorithms to extract standardized gait and limb function metrics from short videos of patients. Development and pilot testing are complete; this grant will support the first prospective, real-world validation and implementation study. Our team has established international collaborations in preparation and are now ready to proceed. The overall goal is to evaluate MML as an equitable, scalable digital health tool for motion assessment in varying healthcare settings. Specific objectives are: 1. Determine the accuracy of MML compared with expert clinician evaluation; 2. Assess feasibility, usability, acceptability, impact, and safety of MML in non-traditional settings; 3. Generate pilot data to inform larger CIHR Project and implementation grants focused on scale-up, integration into routine care and extension to other populations with neuromotor disease We have planned a mixed-methods prospective study of clinicians caring for children with CP at institutions testing the MML tool. Accuracy will be determined by comparing MML output to expert evaluation. Surveys will provide details about usability, workload, and perceived impact on patient care. Findings will inform deployment, application refinement, and capture protocols to enable subsequent scaling. Validating MML in real-world settings will expand access to objective motion assessment for patients; provide a scalable model for remote motion assessment relevant to IMHA priorities (including telerehabilitation and remote patient monitoring); and catalyze larger digital health studies that advance CIHR-IMHA digital health objectives.