Article

Standard clinical gait analysis protocols usually limit to test self-selected
speed gait: this approach is generally valid and permits time and cost saving.
Yet, the literature evidences suggest that some pathologies (especially at onset
or subclinical level) may not primarily affect plain gait, but more demanding
locomotor tasks. In the present study we therefore propose a multiple-task gait
analysis protocol including: self-selected, increased and decreased speed gait;
walking on toes; walking on heels; step ascending and step descending, and apply
it to 40 healthy subjects (20 aged 6-17, 20 aged 22-72) thus building extensive
reference data set. Published studies already report normative data for some of
these tasks, but inhomogeneously (due to different collecting methods and
biomechanical models, population characteristics, nature of data). We verify a
good correlation between our results and those presented by Schwartz et al.
(2008) [12] in their study providing extensive data on the effect of walking
speed on the gait of healthy children. In discussing the results, the rationale
and effectiveness of each task is confirmed, and we supply an electronic addendum
with comprehensive kinematic, kinetic and electromyographic normative data for
the considered population, along with a set of reference parameters and related
statistical analysis, as a premise for further applications on pathological
subjects.
CI - Copyright (c) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Langue : ANGLAIS