The Development of Mature Walking

Download or read book The Development of Mature Walking written by David Sutherland and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 1988 with total page 248 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This important monograph summarizes a comprehensive study on the maturation of walking in normal children. Research, undertaken at one of the world's leading gait analysis centers, involved over 400 studies on a total of nearly 300 children in ten age-groups from one to seven years. Data are presented on anthropometric measurements; tests of developmental progress; time/distance parameters such as stride length and walking velocity; twelve joint angles on each side measured throughout the gait cycle; dynamic electromyography of phasic activity in seven lower-extremity muscle groups; and force measurements including vertical force, fore/aft shear, medial/lateral shear and torque. At each age, composite joint-angle graphs and time/distance parameters are brought together with film tracings of a representative child in that age group. In addition, advanced methods of statistical analysis have been applied to the joint-angle data to define prediction regions within which ninety-five percent of normal children should lie throughout the gait cycle. Finally, a "decision tree" is presented from which a fitted age can be inferred for a subject based on non-age-specific data gathered in a motion analysis lab. Practical applications are demonstrated in a chapter devoted to two case studies.