Assessment of non-disabled individuals walking with partial body weight support over ground and on treadmill

Abstract

Background: Partial body weight support (BWS) systems have been used with treadmills as a strategy for rehabilitation of individuals with gait impairment. Considering that over ground is the commonly surface used for walking, it would be important to compare the use of a BWS system on treadmill and over ground. Aim: To analyze healthy adults walking with no harness and with 30% BWS on treadmill and over ground. Method: Kinematics data from 14 healthy adults (26 ± 3 years old) were acquired as they walked with 30% BWS and with no harness over ground and on treadmill. From these data, temporal-spatial walking parameters and joint and segmental angles were calculated. Results: Several parameter of walking over ground and on treadmill were different and the effects of partial BWS depended on the type of surface the participants walked. In general, walking over ground was characterized by faster and longer strides and with larger body segments excursion compared to walking on treadmill. Participants presented the most stable walking pattern as they walked over ground with BWS. Interpretation: Changes presented by healthy adults were towards an adjustable and adaptable pattern performed under a more stable and closer provided by over ground surface.

Gait alterations during walking with partial body weight supported on a treadmill and over the ground

“…However, at a higher percentage of BWS, the duration of their stance and double-limb support, mainly over the ground, decreased, which suggests that BWS can stimulate shorter periods of foot contact as it provides support for balance and consequently, walking stability 15,23 . These results corroborate those of previous studies 14,28 and might represent a strategy to maintain the center of mass closer to the base of the support to maintain walking stability compared to the imbalance promoted by the treadmill’s belt backward movement 28 . Based on these results, it is important to know that if a treadmill is employed with BWS in clinical settings, strategies for stimulating longer and faster steps should be considered.…”

“…To the best of our knowledge, only Barela et al . 14 investigated gait with BWS on both surfaces in non-disabled adults, but were not able to control the walking speed when walking over the ground because of the incapability of the BWS system they used and the fact that only 30% of BWS was assessed.…”

Constraint manipulation as a feasible strategy for gait alteration and intervention: a scoping review

“…As it is common to employ a BWS system on a treadmill, we further compared the walking performance of non-disabled young adults with BWS on a treadmill and the ground. 30,31 Barela et al 32 investigated non-disabled young adults walking "freely" (that is, no harness from the BWS system) and with 30% of BWS on both treadmill and the ground at a self-selected comfortable speed. The participants of this study walked faster and with longer strides on the ground than on the treadmill, and presented a more stable pattern on the ground, as revealed by the shorter double support duration.…”

“…The participants of this study walked faster and with longer strides on the ground than on the treadmill, and presented a more stable pattern on the ground, as revealed by the shorter double support duration. 32 Recently, Barela et al 33 investigated non-disabled young adults with the updated version (Figure 3), walking with similar and controlled speed on both treadmill and the ground. Based on the previous studies with the same overground BWS system, 29 participants walked at approximately 80% of their "free" self-selected comfortable walking speed, with 0%, 10%, and 20% of BWS.…”