Article

Spinal orthoses are common in the treatment of various
conditions that affect the spine. They encompass both the
spine and pelvis and thus have implications for pelvic and lowerlimb
motion during walking in addition to a direct effect on spinal
motion. The role of the spine in walking is largely ill-defined,
and the consequences of restricted spinal motion on walking
have yet to be explored. This study investigated the effect of spinal
restriction on gait in able-bodied persons. Gait analyses were
performed on 10 able-bodied subjects as they walked at five different
speeds that were distributed across their comfortable range
of speeds. Data were collected during walking with and without
spinal restriction by a fiberglass body jacket, which is similar to
a thoracolumbosacral orthosis (TLSO). With spinal restriction,
peak-to-peak (PP) pelvic obliquity and rotation were significantly
reduced across all walking speeds (p < 0.001), while PP
pelvic tilt was significantly reduced at only the fastest walking
speeds (p = 0.017). PP hip abduction-adduction motion was significantly
reduced with spinal restriction across all speeds (p <
0.001), while PP hip flexion-extension significantly increased at
only the slow and very slow speeds (p < 0.001 and p = 0.023,
respectively). A better understanding of the effects of restricted
spinal motion on gait may help clinicians predict and avoid
development of additional problems from TLSO use or surgical
restriction of spinal motion. An awareness of these issues will
enable clinicians to monitor patients for problems that may result
from decreased spine and pelvic motion.

Langue : ANGLAIS