Relationship between gait kinematics and walking energy expenditure during pregnancy in South African women

Abstract

BackgroundVarious musculoskeletal changes occurring during pregnancy may lead to the change in gait and contribute to the increase in walking energy expenditure. Previous research indicates that changes in gait mechanics may lead to the increase in mechanical work required during walking. However, there is little information to indicate if changes in gait mechanics during pregnancy have impact on active or total energy expenditure. Therefore, the primary aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between changes in gait kinematics and walking energy expenditure in pregnant women.MethodsThirty-five women (mean age = 27.5 ± 6.1 years) volunteered for the study during various stages of pregnancy (1st trimester average = 12.1 ± 2.2 weeks; 2nd trimester = 22.3 ± 2.6 weeks; 3rd trimester = 31.4 ± 2.6 weeks). 3D motion analysis was used to assess changes in kinematic parameters during walking at self-selected pace. Resting metabolic rate, and walking energy expenditure expressed in terms of rate and cost of O2 were analysed with portable metabolic analyser.ResultsOnly medio-lateral deviation of centre of gravity (COGML) increased 13.6% between the 1st and 2nd, and 39.3% between 2nd and 3rd trimester (p ≤ 0.001). However, self-selected walking speed depicted strong significant positive linear relationship with net O2 rate (r = 0.70; p ≤ 0.001), and was strongly associated with the vertical excursion of the COG (r = 0.75, p ≤ 0.001).ConclusionsChanges in gait mechanics during pregnancy may lead to an increase in walking energy expenditure. However, the consequent increase in walking energy cost may not be sufficient to offset the natural energy sparing mechanism.

WITHDRAWN: A Systemtic Review on Gait Measurement Techniques Using Prisma 2009

“…To extract gait parameters that are more or less relevant depending on their accuracies, accelerometers 16-18, 46, 53 , computerised carpet 43 , electronic pathways 45 , and capacitive sensors 44 are used. Validation of these approaches against optical systems is suggested.Optical systems are the most accurate but also the most costly technologies, according to the literature reviewed, and might be utilised as a validation source.…”

“…Optical gait measuring devices are the most precise and costly kinematic gait measurement tools. Electromyography (EMG) 3,[32][33][34][35] , force platform 3,6,11,[26][27][28][30][31][32][33][36][37][38][39][40] , instrumented treadmill 10,24,41 , computerised carpet 42,43 , capacitive pressure distribution platform 44 , and electronic walkway 45 are among the techniques used for force measurement, according to the literature reviewed. Advanced gait analysis techniques are being developed once again, this time employing individual sensors and customised firmware.…”

Based on Lebesgue's constant minimum skew-preserving asymptote of rational interpolation of the centre of gravity

“…In particular, we focus on the selection of weights during the interpolation process to ensure that no poles or unreachable points appear during the interpolation process, thus improving the computational efficiency and numerical stability. At the same time, we highlight the fact that different centre of gravity rational interpolation functions can be obtained with different interpolation weight settings, which provides more flexibility for practical applications [1][2][3][4][5]. In our study, we focus on the problem of maintaining the original oblique asymptotes, especially when approximating the interpolated function with oblique asymptotes.…”