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Early independent walking: a longitudinal study of load perturbation effects
Beatrix Vereijken1, Arve Vorland Pedersen, Jan Harry Størksen
1Human Movement Science Programme, Faculty of Social Sciences and Technology Management, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway. beatrix.vereijken@svt.ntnu.no
Insights
Infants adapt walking to body changes, but ankle loads pose the biggest challenge. With more walking experience, infants improve, though ankle loads remain difficult to manage.
Area of Science:
- Developmental motor control
- Infant biomechanics
- Locomotion adaptation
Background:
- Early walking development involves significant motor learning and adaptation.
- Understanding how infants adjust to altered body dimensions is crucial for developmental insights.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate infants' adaptive responses to experimentally induced changes in body dimensions during early walking.
- To examine the influence of walking experience on these adaptive abilities.
Main Methods:
- Longitudinal study of 15 infants over 6 months of independent walking.
- Load perturbation design with loads placed at shoulders, waist, and ankles.
- Analysis of gait parameters including speed, step length, foot rotation, and step width.
Main Results:
- Infants showed initial difficulty adapting to shoulder and ankle loads, with more falls compared to waist or no loads.
- Ankle loads most significantly disrupted walking proficiency, leading to reduced speed and step length.
- Increased walking experience improved overall proficiency, but deficits persisted with ankle loading.
Conclusions:
- Infants' ability to adapt gait to altered body dimensions develops over the first 6 months of walking.
- The location of external loads significantly impacts walking adaptation, with ankle loads being most challenging.
- Walking experience plays a critical role in refining motor control and adaptation to perturbations.
Abstract:
This study investigated infants' ability to adapt to experimentally induced changes in their body dimensions at walk onset, and how this ability is affected by increased walking experience. Fifteen infants were studied over their first 6 months of independent walking with a load perturbation design. They traversed a walkway with loads symmetrically placed around the shoulders, waist, or ankles, and without loading. At walk onset, infants fell more with shoulder and ankle loads than with waist or no loads. Shoulder loads further resulted in higher walking speed and longer steps, while waist loads resulted in increased walking speed and larger foot rotation. Ankle loads disrupted walking proficiency the most, as indicated by lower walking speed, shorter steps, larger foot rotation, and smaller step-to-step angle. Step width was not differentially affected by the conditions. With increased experience, walking proficiency increased across all conditions, but ankle loads lagged behind the other conditions. Loading effects are discussed with respect to walking experience and position of the loads on the body.
