Preserved gait kinematics during controlled body unloading.
L Awai, M Franz, C S Easthope and 3 others
PMID 28376829WHAT IT FOUND
In 19 healthy walkers, unloading up to 50% changed walking timing, ankle motion, and leg muscle activity, while hip and knee motion stayed close to normal walking.
Key findings
01Walking timing changed with unloading: step length was longer at 30%, cadence was lower at 40% and 50%, and stance and double support were shorter at 20% through 50%.
02Hip and knee angle patterns varied little across unloading levels, but the ankle showed more dorsiflexion at heel strike as unloading increased.
03Stance-phase muscle activity changed at 50% unloading, with biceps femoris increasing and gastrocnemius medialis decreasing; rectus femoris and tibialis anterior did not show statistically significant changes, and no muscles changed during swing phase.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs
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What it does not show
The study was done only in 19 healthy volunteers, so it does not show how people with neurological gait disorders respond. Participants walked at 0.56 m/s, a speed chosen to resemble patients but not tested in patients. One participant was excluded from the EMG analysis because of technical problems. The paper says some observed changes could be artefacts from harness attachment or reduced trunk loading, and the reasons are unclear. No clinical outcomes or training effects were measured; the study describes gait changes, not patient benefit. The results may not apply to all body-weight support systems because the authors note different systems can give different kinematic effects.
Declared interests
The paper names funding from the Commission for Technology and Innovation CTI, Switzerland; the Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung; the Clinical Research Priority Program CRPP Neurorehab UZH; and the Wolf Foundation, Switzerland.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that this body-weight support system improves walking in neurological patients. It was tested only in 19 healthy volunteers walking at 0.56 m/s, and the paper says it remains to be investigated whether patients show similar adaptations.