Motor strategy for rapid gait initiation under conditions of limited center of pressure control.
Takayuki Yoshida, Ryoko Takeda, Hiroto Suzuki and 1 others
PMID 30774199WHAT IT FOUND
Starting with foot pressure far back, rapid first steps used backward pelvic tilt or stepping instead of forward lean.
Young men took longer to begin walking and made smaller pressure shifts.
Key findings
01Rapid speed shortened the time from the cue to swing foot contact compared with normal speed.
02The posterior start position produced the longest time to begin walking and the smallest backward pressure shift.
03At the posterior rapid condition, forward tilt was used by 10.0% of participants, backward tilt by 46.7%, and step pattern by 43.3%.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs
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What it does not show
The study included only healthy young adult males with no neurological or orthopedic problems, so it does not show how people with those problems start walking. Each condition was performed once, so the results do not show how stable the movement pattern is across repeated starts. The movement patterns were classified by the author from video, so the reliability of the pattern labels is not reported. The study tested laboratory gait initiation, not clinical outcomes, so it does not show whether changing the start position improves walking for patients.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflict of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read the backward tilt or step pattern as a recommended treatment strategy for patients. These patterns were observed in healthy young adults during a laboratory start, and the study did not test whether they improve gait initiation.