Trunk and Hip Analysis During Gait in Post-Discectomy, Active Lumbar Stabilization

This paper presents a post-discectomy rehabilitation program through active lumbar stabilization with focus on trunk and hip movement analysis during gait. Material and methods: Analysis consisted of a kinematic gait study, with kinematic point tracking and software data processing in MATLAB. The analysis was performed on a patient with L5-S1 discectomy. The purpose was to track progress and change in trunk and hip during the rehabilitation program and to establish a relationship between trunk and hip movement during gait, in regards to the patient’s rehabilitation program. Results: Trunk and hip analysis during gait showed significant differences in patient hip and trunk rotational movement between the three analyzed readings of the patients. Changes were found in both left and right hip flexion-extension coupling and flexion in terminal swing. The rotational movement of the trunk is reduced in a more physiological margin from -13.4 to -1.0 anterior-posterior movement which correlates with unimproved in transversal rotation. The analysis made for hip and trunk synchronization revealed an increased synchronization after the end of the functional reeducation program. Conclusions: This method allowed to evaluate changes in trunk and hip motion during gait. Tracking and visualizing the motion between trunk and hip during gait gives a better understanding of the importance of each movement and the strong link between gait phase coordination and motion angle amplitude. It gives a new perspective on the rehabilitation process that targets lumbar stabilization.