Instrumented Gait Analysis to Identify Persistent Deficits in Gait Stability in Adults With Chronic Vestibular Loss

Area of Science:

• Gait analysis
• Vestibular disorders
• Biomechanics

Background:

• Regaining safe walking is crucial for adults with vestibular loss.
• Understanding vestibulopathic gait is essential for effective intervention design and outcome interpretation.
• Limited research currently characterizes the impact of vestibular loss on gait.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the utility of an instrumented 2-minute walk test in adults with vestibular loss.
• To further define the characteristics of vestibulopathic gait.
• To determine if chronic vestibular loss leads to lasting gait impairments.

Main Methods:

• A cross-sectional study involving healthy adults and those with vestibular hypofunction.
• Participants underwent an instrumented 2-minute walk test using wearable inertial measurement units.
• Gait parameters, including stride length and peak turning velocity, were analyzed using multivariate analysis of variance.

Main Results:

• Significant differences in gait were observed between healthy adults and those with vestibular loss.
• Adults with vestibular loss exhibited notably shorter stride lengths and reduced peak turning velocity.
• Instrumented gait analysis demonstrated good discriminative validity for identifying gait deficits.

Conclusions:

• Instrumented gait analysis reveals persistent gait stability deficits in individuals with chronic vestibular loss.
• These identified gait deficits are clinically and functionally significant.
• The findings support the use of these deficits as targets for vestibular rehabilitation programs.