Shank motion analysis for quantifying knee gait deviations: Normative data at various walking speeds.

Area of Science:

• Biomechanics
• Gait Analysis
• Clinical Biomechanics

Background:

• Knee deviations in gait analysis are typically measured by joint angles.
• Incorporating shank and knee angular velocities can enhance analysis, especially for knee extensor thrust.
• Normative data for these velocities at various speeds is needed.

Purpose of the Study:

• Establish normative data for shank and knee angular velocities across different gait speeds.
• Validate these biomarkers in clinical populations with knee extensor thrust.
• Investigate the correlation between gait speed and angular velocities.

Main Methods:

• Utilized a 3D motion capture dataset from 50 healthy participants to compute normative shank and knee angular velocities at five gait speeds.
• Analyzed 11 hemiparetic individuals with knee extensor thrust using 3D gait analysis to determine minimum stance phase shank and knee angular velocities.
• Calculated means, standard deviations, and confidence intervals for normative data.

Main Results:

• Hemiparetic individuals demonstrated significantly lower minimum shank and knee angular velocities compared to normative data across all tested gait speeds (P < 0.001).
• In healthy individuals, minimum stance phase shank and knee angular velocities, as well as foot-off values, correlated significantly with gait speed (r = -0.83, r = 0.67, r ≥ 0.9; P < 0.01).

Conclusions:

• Provides normative data for shank and knee angular velocities, supporting their use in analyzing knee deviations, particularly knee extensor thrust.
• Highlights the significant influence of walking speed on gait patterns, specifically shank and knee angular velocities.
• Emphasizes the necessity of comparing gait data at consistent speeds for clinical practice and future research.