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Clinical-oriented Three-dimensional Gait Analysis Method for Evaluating Gait Disorder
Published on: March 4, 2018
Clinical gait analysis reveals altered walking patterns in critical Covid 19 survivors
Asmaa Mahmoud1, Marco Romanato2, Giulia Squartini2
1Villa Adria, KOS Care, Ancona, Italy.
Insights
COVID-19 survivors show impaired gait and reduced muscle activity, particularly those with longer intensive care unit stays. Gait analysis can inform better treatment for post-COVID-19 recovery.
Area of Science:
- Biomedical Engineering
- Neurology
- Rehabilitation Science
Background:
- COVID-19 often leads to intensive care unit (ICU) admission for respiratory issues.
- Neurological impairments, including peripheral neuropathies, are observed in some COVID-19 patients.
- Understanding long-term effects on motor function is crucial for patient recovery.
Purpose of the Study:
- To analyze gait patterns and muscle activity in COVID-19 survivors.
- To compare gait biomechanics between survivors and healthy individuals.
- To investigate the correlation between ICU stay duration and gait impairments.
Main Methods:
- Collected kinematic, kinetic, and electromyographic data during walking.
- Analyzed lower limb joint angles, moments, powers, and muscle activity.
- Compared gait parameters (speed, cadence, forces) between 12 COVID-19 survivors and 12 controls.
Main Results:
- COVID-19 survivors exhibited significantly reduced gait speed, cadence, and range of motion.
- Anteroposterior and vertical ground reaction forces were diminished in survivors.
- Longer ICU stays (>35 days) correlated with more pronounced gait alterations and reduced muscle activity.
Conclusions:
- Gait impairments in COVID-19 survivors may be linked to the duration of ICU hospitalization.
- Gait biomechanics assessment is valuable for clinical decision-making.
- Improved treatment protocols for COVID-19 survivors can be developed based on gait analysis.
Background:
Covid-19 has dramatically increased the number of admissions in intensive care units due to respiratory complications. In some cases, the arousal of neurological impairments, such as peripheral neuropathies, have been revealed. The purpose of this research was to characterize the gait pattern and muscle activity changes in Covid-19 survivors compared to physiological gait.
Methods:
Twelve post-Covid-19 participants admitted to intensive care units and twelve non-disabled controls were considered. Kinematics, kinetics and surface electromyographic data were collected for each participant during walking. Post Covid-19 participants were further divided into two sub-groups, according to the number of days spent in the intensive care units. Lower limb joint angles, moments and powers were extracted as well as the muscle activity of four muscles bilaterally, the spatial, temporal and spatiotemporal parameters of gait and the ground reaction forces. The extracted variables were compared through OneWay-ANOVA or Kruskal-Wallis tests where appropriate (p < 0.05).
Findings:
Overall, the considered parameters revealed statistically significant reduction in gait speed, cadence, range of motion in the sagittal plane, anteroposterior and vertical ground reaction forces between pathological and control participants. Larger alterations of the gait patterns were highlighted in the post-Covid-19 group hospitalized in intensive care units longer than 35 days, where a reduced muscle activity was observed on all the analyzed muscles.
Interpretation:
Results suggested that the severity of gait impairments in post-Covid-19 participants might be correlated with intensive care units-bedding period. Gait biomechanics assessment could be adopted in the clinical decision-making process to improve treatment protocols in post-Covid-19 survivors.
