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Grasping the handrails during treadmill walking does not alter sagittal plane kinematics of walking
W L Siler1, A L Jorgensen, R A Norris
1Department of Physical Therapy, Saint Louis University, MO 63104-1395, USA.
Objective:
To determine whether grasping the handrails during treadmill walking affects sagittal plane kinematic parameters selected to describe walking style.
Design:
Crossover trial.
Setting:
A university motion analysis laboratory.
Participants:
A convenience sample comprised of 15 apparently healthy college-age volunteers.
Intervention:
After being acclimatized to treadmill walking, subjects were videotaped while completing two treadmill walking bouts. Each bout was 10 minutes in duration and was conducted at a walking speed of 1.5m/sec. Subjects were instructed to grasp the handrails in one bout (GRASP) but to refrain from using the handrails in the other (FREE). Both bouts were conducted in a single session and were separated by a 10-minute rest period. The order in which subjects completed the bouts was randomized.
Main Outcome Measures:
Five successive strides occurring during the last 30 seconds of each bout were digitized. The coordinate data were numerically filtered and the following parameters derived: stride length, percentage of stride cycle spent in double-support, and the hip, knee, and ankle angles at heel-strike and toe-off. The results for the five strides in each bout were averaged and the average value was used in the statistical analysis. The FREE and GRASP conditions were compared with t tests for dependent samples (p < or = .05).
Results:
There were no differences between the FREE and GRASP conditions for any of the parameters assessed.
Conclusions:
Subjects may grasp the treadmill handrails without affecting sagittal plane kinematic parameters of walking style.