Related Experiment Video
Updated: Dec 23, 2025
Clinical-oriented Three-dimensional Gait Analysis Method for Evaluating Gait Disorder
Published on: March 4, 2018
Biomechanical evaluation of swing-through crutch gait in patients with lower extremity injury
Agata Rzepnicka1, Jarosław Kabaciński1, Michał Murawa1
1Department of Biomechanics, Poznan University of Physical Education, Poznań, Poland.
Purpose:
The main purpose was to determine the values of spatio-temporal parameters and ground reaction forces during the swingthrough crutch gait.
Methods:
Eighteen male patients with unilateral injury within the foot, ankle or shank (age: 25.4 ± 7.7 years, body height: 1.79 ± 0.06 m, body mass: 76.1 ± 11.5 kg) participated in the study. In the experiment, 6-camera optoelectronic motion capture system and force platform were used. The measurements of spatio-temporal parameters and ground reaction force (GRF) were performed for uninjured lower extremity (ULE), crutch on the ULE side (CrU) and crutch on the injured lower extremity side (CrI).
Results:
Analysis demonstrated a significantly longer stance phase and a significantly shorter swing phase for ULE than crutches ( p < 0.05), and a significantly longer first, compared to the second, double support phase ( p < 0.05). Comparisons showed also significantly higher maximum values of the vertical GRF and extreme values of the horizontal antero-posterior GRF for ULE than crutches ( p < 0.05) as well as for CrI than CrU ( p < 0.05).
Conclusions:
The present study provides biomechanical data related to the spatio-temporal parameters and GRFs for the swing-through crutch gait in patients with the lower extremity injuries.
