Article

The assessment of gait variability has become an important indicator for
quantifying motor performance. However, the use of treadmills is known to
influence the temporal rhythm of gait, while non-continuous (i.e. stop-start)
overground walking alters gait variability, leading to erroneous results. Through
establishing the "8-walk", an overground walking protocol that allows the
collection of a high number of consecutive gait cycles, the aim of this study was
to determine the conditions under which gait variability can be assessed
reliably. Twelve healthy subjects performed continuous barefoot walking at their
preferred speed in a path shaped as an "8". Kinematic data of the dominant foot
was collected while subjects walked along the straight 10 m sections of the
8-walk during sessions on two different days. Mean spatio-temporal parameters of
gait and gait variability were computed for 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 and 60 consecutive
cycles. All mean parameters of gait showed excellent reliability (ICC: 0.88-0.98)
with only 10 cycles included in the analysis. However, the reliability of spatial
and temporal parameters of gait variability improved with increasing number of
cycles (ICC: 0.60-0.90) but levelled-off after 50 consecutive cycles, revealing
an inter-day test-retest variability of approximately 13%. To reliably assess
gait variability and evaluate human motor performance, we propose the collection
of at least 50 cycles and the use of an 8-walk protocol, which avoids the
limitations of treadmill and non-consecutive walking protocols.
CI - Copyright (c) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Langue : ANGLAIS