Three-dimensional path of the body centre of mass during walking in children: an index of neural maturation.
Chiara Malloggi, Viviana Rota, Luigi Catino and 5 others
PMID 30882528WHAT IT FOUND
In healthy children 5–13, the body's centre of mass path while walking got shorter and less side-to-side relative to height as age increased, and changed shape with speed.
These treadmill norms are preliminary, not a validated clinical test.
Key findings
01The side-to-side width and total length of the body centre of mass path during walking became smaller relative to height as children got older.
02At higher walking speeds, the path became more bent and upward concave when viewed from the front.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs
Read the rest of this summary
You get three full summaries a month, free, and we do not ask for a card. Search, the TL;DRs and your library stay unlimited either way.
What it does not show
The sample was small: 22 children and six adults, so other sources of variability could not be examined. Participants were healthy children aged 5–13 and adults aged 23–48, so it does not describe children with gait or balance disorders. The age range stopped at 13, so it does not map the full path of walking development. Treadmill walking differs from overground walking: at the same speed, step length was 7–10% shorter, and children aged 6–7 had wider steps. The study proposed the centre of mass path as a possible index; it did not test whether it predicts falls or changes with treatment.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not use this as a validated clinical test or say it proves neural maturation. It analyzed 22 healthy children and six adults on a treadmill and only proposed the centre of mass path as a possible index.