Walking in visually handicapped children and its energy cost

Walking is a basic activity in visually handicapped subjects, and often it is used as a general means of improving physical fitness. The level of adaptation to walking may be assessed by means of energy cost, c. The variable c was studied during walking on a treadmill in two groups of visually handicapped children (international classification of vision of 5/200 or less). The two groups were comprised of 15 boys (mean age = 11.8 +/- 2.1 years) and 13 girls (mean age = 11.6 +/- 3.1 years). The mean energy cost in boys was found to be 3.79 +/- 0.31 J kg(-1) m(-1) and in girls it was 3.77 +/- 0.36 J kg(-1) m(-1). Both these values were not significantly higher than the energy cost in untrained nonhandicapped children of the same age. There was a U-shaped dependence of c on increased speed of walking. The minimum was about 3.6 km h(-1) in both groups of handicapped children, which was similar to that for non-handicapped subjects. It is concluded that in visually handicapped children the energy cost of walking, and thus adaptation to walking, is the same as in the healthy children. The visually handicapped individuals show a 'normal' response to exercise, to which they are adapted, with increases in both cardiovascular and muscular fitness.