Normalized speed, not age, characterizes ground reaction force patterns in 5-to 12-year-old children walking at
B W Stansfield1, S J Hillman, M E Hazlewood
1Anderson Gait Analysis Laboratory, Princess Margaret Rose Orthopaedic Hospital, Edinburgh, United Kingdom.
Insights
Ground reaction forces in children are mainly influenced by walking speed, not age. Normalized speed is crucial for comparing normal and pathological gait patterns.
Area of Science:
- Biomechanics
- Pediatric Gait Analysis
Background:
- Understanding how children's gait develops is essential for clinical assessments.
- Ground reaction forces (GRF) are key indicators of gait dynamics.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the influence of age and normalized speed on ground reaction forces in healthy children.
- To determine whether age or normalized speed is a better predictor of gait characteristics.
Main Methods:
- Longitudinal study of 26 healthy 5-year-old children over 7 years.
- Analysis of 1040 gait trials at self-selected walking speeds.
- Examination of ground reaction forces based on age and normalized speed (speed/sqrt(height*g)).
Main Results:
- Little significant change in ground reaction forces was observed with increasing age.
- Significant alterations in vertical and anterior-posterior forces correlated with normalized speed.
- Gait patterns were primarily characterized by normalized speed, not chronological age.
Conclusions:
- Normalized walking speed is a more significant factor than age in characterizing pediatric ground reaction forces.
- Clinical comparisons of normal versus pathological gait in children should prioritize normalized speed.
- This finding has implications for the accurate assessment and diagnosis of gait abnormalities in pediatric populations.
Abstract:
Twenty-six healthy 5-year-old children were enrolled in a 7-year longitudinal study to examine the importance of age and speed in the characterization of ground reaction forces. One thousand forty gait trials of children walking at self-selected speeds were examined on the basis of age and normalized speed [speed/(height x g)(1/2)]. Results, presented as discrete peak and trough values and as continuous trace plots over the stance phase, indicated that there was little change in ground reaction forces with age, but there were significant changes in vertical force and anterior-posterior force values with normalized speed. The ground reaction force patterns in these children were characterized predominantly by normalized speed of progression and not age. The clinical relevance of these findings is that normalized speed of walking, rather than age, should be considered when comparing normal with pathological gait.
