Systems and methods for a limb strike detector are provided. In certain embodiments, a system for detecting limb strikes comprises an inertial measurement unit (IMU) that provides inertial measurements; and a processing unit that receives the inertial measurements from the IMU. In certain embodiments, computer readable instructions direct the processing unit to determine multiple local vertical acceleration samples, wherein each local vertical acceleration sample in the multiple local vertical acceleration samples defines an acceleration component along the local vertical axis and an associated time; integrate the multiple local vertical acceleration samples to determine multiple local vertical velocity samples; identify limb strike regions from the multiple local vertical velocity samples, wherein a limb strike region is associated with a local vertical velocity sample in the plurality of local vertical velocity samples; and determine limb strike times based on the identified limb strike regions and the multiple local vertical acceleration samples.