Article

Gait termination is a task which requires people to alter momentum and stabilize
the body. To date, many of the kinematic and kinetic characteristics of gait
termination have not been reported, making it difficult for clinicians to design
interventions to improve the ability to terminate gait quickly and efficiently.
Therefore, the purpose of this study was to describe the lower body mechanics of
healthy children as they performed walking trials, planned stopping trials, and
unplanned stopping trials. Kinematic and kinetic data were collected from 15
healthy children between the ages of 11 and 17 years (14.3+/-2.1 years). The
timing and magnitude of peak sagittal plane joint angles and moments were
compared across the three conditions for the leg that led the stop step. Most
differences were found when comparing unplanned stopping to both walking and
planned stopping. During unplanned stopping, most subjects used either a hip/knee
extension strategy or hip/knee flexion strategy to stabilize and perform the
stopping task. The magnitudes of the peak hip extension moment and peak knee
flexion angle were significantly greater, while the peak plantarflexion moment
was significantly smaller during unplanned stopping than walking and planned
stopping. The peak plantarflexion moment occurred significantly earlier during
the stop stance phase of planned and unplanned stopping than during walking. This
suggests that the ability to create sufficient joint moments in a short period of
time is essential to be able to stop quickly and safely. Therefore, possible
treatments/interventions should focus on ensuring that patients have appropriate
strength, power, and range of motion.
CI - Copyright (c) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Langue : ANGLAIS