Article

Young healthy adults adopt a "head stabilization in space" strategy during
walking by attenuating the acceleration going up from pelvis-to-head level.
A gender difference exists in this control strategy, particularly evident in the
control of medio-lateral dynamic equilibrium. This study aims at assessing
whether this difference is already present at pre-pubertal age. Two groups of
children (15 females and 15 males, age range: 8-11 years) were involved in the
study. They were asked to walk at self-selected speed and movement data were
collected using three inertial sensors firmly attached at pelvis (P), shoulder
(S), and head (H) levels. The RMS of the accelerations of P, S, and H were
computed along the antero-posterior (AP), medio-lateral (ML), and vertical (V)
directions and used to compare the two groups. No differences were found between
the two groups in the pelvis and shoulder acceleration RMS values. Conversely,
lower head acceleration RMS values were found for the females in both the AP and
ML directions. Both groups managed to attenuate the upper body AP and ML
accelerations going from pelvis-to-head level, with higher attenuations found for
the females. The results of this study suggest that the gender differences in the
ability to control the head accelerations during gait, found in a previous study,
are due neither to different mass distribution nor to a compensation of the
greater pelvic motions, nor are they the result of gender related walking habits
(e.g. use of high heels).
CI - Copyright 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Langue : ANGLAIS