Article

Gait analysis is an increasingly used tool in the evaluation of
neurological or orthopaedic problems in children. A good insight into age-related
changes in normal paediatric gait is necessary to evaluate gait inefficiency
caused by pathological walking patterns in children.
However, no systematic
evaluation of the normal development of trunk movement has yet been made.
METHODS: Data of n=85 healthy children were available. They were asked to walk at
self selected speed. The gait data were measured with the Vicon Plug-In-Gait
model, including the trunk. We assessed gait cycles of thorax, spine and pelvis
in the sagittal, frontal and transverse plane, respectively, stratified by age
(categories: <4, 4-6, 7-9, 10-12 and 13-16 years) as well as by normalized speed
(/= 0.50). RESULTS: The sagittal thorax and spine movement
was found to be gradually and significantly associated with age, but less so with
speed, indicating that, with increasing age, children tend to lean their trunk
forward relative to both the global co-ordinate system and the pelvis. In
contrast, the frontal and transverse parameters of spine and pelvic movement
seemed to depend mainly on speed, not age. CONCLUSION: Our study shows that age
dependency has to be considered with respect to sagittal thorax and spine
movements. This finding might be of great importance with respect to the
identification of pathological patterns in trunk movement.
CI - Copyright (c) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Langue : ANGLAIS