Analysis of the positioning of the head, trunk, and upper limbs during gait in children with visual impairment

A narrative review of gait characteristics and development in pediatric populations with visual disorders: where do we stand and where are we going?

“…From our search, we identified a scarcity of longitudinal observations, with only one study reporting observation of gait from 5 to 7 years (Murphy & O'Driscoll, 1989). There were a prevalence of case control studies (Bouchard & Tetreault, 2000;Gazzellini et al, 2016;Hallemans et al, 2011;Sankako et al, 2015;Uysal et al, 2010), with two cohort studies (Ashmead et al, 1989;Lieberman et al, 2006). Only one article reported gait characteristics in a sample of infants with visual disorders (Hallemans et al, 2011).…”

“…Only one article reported gait characteristics in a sample of infants with visual disorders (Hallemans et al, 2011). As reported in Table 2, studies mainly included participants who were congenitally blind, with two studies identifying samples who included both participants who were blind or had low visual impairment (Hallemans et al, 2011;Sankako et al, 2015), and one study reporting findings only from children with low visual impairment (Bouchard & Tetreault, 2000). Across studies, the overall number of participants with visual disorders included was 110, ranging between 4 and 30 participants per study.…”

“…Across the studies included, two let children walk in self-selected directions (Gazzellini et al, 2016;Lieberman et al, 2006), and one study assessed walking development through a questionnaire administered to parents (Bouchard & Tetreault, 2000), while the other five studies instructed children to walk in straight lines. Gait characteristics were captured using different equipment: video recording cameras (Ashmead et al, 1989;Murphy & O'Driscoll, 1989), motion analysis systems (Gazzellini et al, 2016;Hallemans et al, 2011;Sankako et al, 2015), an instrumented pedometer (Lieberman et al, 2006), and a powdered walkway (Uysal et al, 2010). One study used a standardized motor assessment tool to evaluate attainment of walking in a sample of participants with visual impairment (Bouchard & Tetreault, 2000).…”

Temporal spatial parameters analysis of the gait in children with vision impairment

“…Before each data collection period the gait analysis system was calibrated (static and dynamic) in accordance with the manufacturer's instruction. Data collection did not begin until the error for finding the centre of each marker was inferior to 1 millimetre in accordance with the protocol for gait analysis (Sankako, Lucareli, de Carvalho, & Braccialli, 2014).…”

“…Today, the importance of psychomotor stimulation via O&M for children with vision impairment is well known and should commence as early as possible to encourage important motor patterns like independent gait. Some authors reported a delay in acquisition of gait in children with vision impairment (Revuelta & López, 2004;Sánchez, 1994) and described their gait as a "shuffling gait" with short steps, limited rotation of the trunk and pelvis, an absence of arm swing, with a flexion of the knees and a wide step width (Aust, 1987;Sankako, Lucareli, de Carvalho, & Braccialli, 2014). Knowledge of the gait characteristics in children with vision impairment and of the influence that residual vision can bring to the variables of the gait can assist with a planned rehabilitation process to improve locomotion.…”