Gait Analysis in Children Using Inclination Angle

Abstract

: Falls are the leading cause of unintentional injuries in children and more than half of all non-fatal injuries result from falls. In this paper, we utilize inclination angle to evaluate gait, a method previously applied to motion analysis in older people. Our goal was to reveal differences in children of different age. We conducted longitudinal measurements for 4 years, starting at the age of 4, to obtain gait data of normally developing children including four boys and four girls. Center of mass of the body and center of pressure were calculated using motion analysis software (C-Motion) and the inclination angle was computed in the anteroposterior and mediolateral direction.The peak value in the mediolateral direction decreased significantly with age. On the other hand, the peak value in the anteroposterior direction did not change significantly. The tendency to change was not consistent in the anteroposterior direction. These results suggest that sway in the anterior direction represents not only unstable posture but also has a role in generating step length in gait and medial sway does represent unstable posture. Therefore, sway in the mediolateral direction is a more meaningful index than that in the anteroposterior direction.