Article

This study investigated the effect of concussion on the pattern and variability
of inter-joint coordination during level walking (Level), obstacle crossing (OB),
and walking with a concurrent cognitive test (ATT). Gait analyses of 23 concussed
and 23 matched healthy adults were performed. Continuous relative phase (CRP),
derived from phase angles of two adjacent joints, was used to assess inter-joint
coordination. Cross-correlation measures and root-mean-square (RMS) differences
were used to compare CRP patterns of the Level condition to those of OB and ATT
conditions, respectively. Deviation phase (DP) was used to evaluate variability
of inter-joint coordination for each task. For hip-knee and knee-ankle CRP
patterns, RMS differences between OB and Level and between ATT and Level in
concussed subjects were significantly greater than those of healthy adults. No
significant group differences were detected for the cross-correlation measures of
hip-knee and knee-ankle CRP patterns. In stance phase, a significant task effect
on DP values was detected in hip-knee inter-joint coordination. For knee-ankle
inter-joint coordination, concussed subjects showed significantly greater DP
values than healthy controls during OB and ATT. In swing phase, concussed
individuals showed greater DP values in hip-knee and knee-ankle inter-joint
coordination compared to healthy controls. The findings suggest that the ability
to modulate inter-joint coordination patterns when accommodating to gait
perturbations is affected by concussion.
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Langue : ANGLAIS