Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2024

DOI

10.3390/biomechanics4020024

Publication Title

Biomechanics

Volume

4

Issue

2

Pages

346-356

Abstract

Gait asymmetries are a common problem in clinical populations, such as those with a history of stroke or Parkinson’s disease. The use of a split-belt treadmill is one way to enhance gait symmetry but relies on specialty (and typically expensive) equipment. Alternatively, visual cues have been shown as a method to alter gait mechanics, but their utility in altering gait symmetry has been relatively understudied. Before deploying this method to clinical populations, a proof-of-concept study is needed to explore using visual cues to alter gait symmetry in healthy adults. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the extent to which healthy adults could synchronize to an asymmetric visual cue with a small or large gait asymmetry using wearable sensors to measure gait asymmetries. Seventy-two healthy adults (ages: 23.89 ± 6.08 years) walked on the treadmill for two conditions: with and without the visual cue. Each walking condition lasted 10 min at the participant’s preferred walking speed. Inertial sensors were used to measure gait asymmetries. Some participants did not respond to the visual cue, and groups were separated into responders and non-responders. Participants in the small and large asymmetry-responder groups exhibited statistically significant increased asymmetries in single limb support % (p < 0.01) and step duration (s) (p < 0.05, p < 0.01, respectively). Only the large asymmetry-responder group showed statistically significant (p < 0.01) increased asymmetries in stride length. Overall, asymmetrical walking visual cues can alter gait asymmetries, and inertial sensors were sensitive enough to detect small changes in gait asymmetries.

Rights

© 2024 by the authors.

This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license.

Data Availability

Article states: "Data will be made available upon reasonable request to the corresponding author."

ORCID

0000-0001-7256-4508 (Rhea)

Original Publication Citation

Clark, K. G., Raisbeck, L. D., Ross, S. E., & Rhea, C. K. (2024). Mimicking an asymmetrically walking visual cue alters gait symmetry in healthy adults. Biomechanics, 4(2), 346-356. https://doi.org/10.3390/biomechanics4020024

Additional Files
biomechanics-04-00024-s001.zip (2935 kB)
Supplementary Materials
Download

Share

COinS