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Variations in the gait of normal children. A graph applicable to the documentation of abnormalities
F N Todd1, L W Lamoreux, S R Skinner
1Shriners Hospital for Crippled Children, San Francisco, California 94122-4599.
Insights
Orthopaedic treatment aims to improve children's walking. A new gait graph tool quantifies walking characteristics like speed and stride length, aiding clinical assessment and comparison to normal standards.
Area of Science:
- Orthopaedics
- Paediatric Gait Analysis
- Biomechanical Engineering
Background:
- Improving children's walking is a primary goal in orthopaedic treatment.
- Quantitative assessment of gait is crucial for evaluating treatment effectiveness.
- Existing methods may lack simplicity for routine clinical documentation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop a user-friendly tool for documenting and evaluating children's walking.
- To establish quantitative characteristics of normal paediatric gait.
- To enable comparison of patient gait to established normal standards.
Main Methods:
- Collected 2,416 walking observations from 324 children across various speeds.
- Developed graphic displays (gait graphs) for key parameters: speed, cadence, stride length, and body height.
- Utilized a quantitative approach to characterize gait patterns.
Main Results:
- Successfully devised graphic displays for documenting quantitative walking characteristics.
- The gait graph provides a standardized method for assessing paediatric gait.
- Data from 324 children establish a basis for normal gait standards.
Conclusions:
- The gait graph is a simple yet effective tool for clinicians.
- It aids in the documentation, evaluation, and comparison of children's gait.
- Facilitates objective assessment of walking abilities in paediatric orthopaedics.
Abstract:
The goal of much orthopaedic treatment of children is to improve their walking. To document the quantitative characteristics of walking, we devised graphic displays of speed, cadence, stride length, and body height on the basis of 2,416 observations of 324 children walking over a range of speeds. The gait graph is an uncomplicated tool for the clinician to use in the documentation and evaluation of gait in children. It also provides the means to relate the walking abilities of patients to the standards for normal children.