Influence of Foot Morphology on the Center of Pressure Pattern in Patients with Down Syndrome.

BACKGROUND: The primary aim of this study was to assess how different conformations of the foot in individuals with Down syndrome affected the CoP during walking, and the secondary aim was to evaluate the effect of an excess of mass in young adults and children with Down syndrome and flat foot. The greater investigation of these aspects will allow for more targeted rehabilitation treatments to improve a patient's quality of life. METHODS: The tests were carried out on 217 subjects with Down syndrome, 65 children and 152 young adults, and on 30 healthy individuals, 19 children and 11 young adults. All subjects underwent gait analysis, and the group with Down syndrome was also assessed with baropodometric tests to evaluate foot morphology. RESULTS: The statistical analysis showed that within both the young adult and child groups, the CoP pattern in the anterior-posterior direction reflected a difficulty in proceeding in the walking direction compensated by a medio-lateral swing. The gait of children with Down syndrome was more impaired than that of young adults. In both young adults and children, a higher severity of impairment was found in overweight and obese female individuals. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that the sensory deficits and the development of hypotonic muscles and lax ligaments of the syndrome lead to morphological alterations of the foot that, combined with the physical characteristics of short stature and obesity, negatively impact the CoP pattern of people with Down syndrome during walking.

Multi-segmental postural control patterns in down syndrome.

BACKGROUND: Patients with Down Syndrome (DS) exhibit less efficient and unstable standing postural control. The specificities of somatosensorial deficits might result in a different utilization of resources and in distinct whole-body kinematic patterns, to date still unexplored. In this paper we aim at addressing multi-segmental coordination patterns in people with DS while maintaining standing balance under different visual conditions (open and closed eyes). METHODS: This cross-sectional observational cohort study involved two groups of 23 patients with DS and 12 healthy controls. A 30-s standing balance test allowed to extract (i) the length of the trajectory of the center-of-pressure sway and 95% confidence ellipse area from Ground Reaction forces, and (ii) Principal Movement (PM) components from full-body motion kinematics; the latter were obtained exploiting a Principal Component Analysis-based approach, also embracing a motor-control perspective through the evaluation of the number of modifications applied by the neuromuscular controller on segments' acceleration. FINDINGS: Trajectory length was significantly higher in patients; 95% ellipse confidence area did not differ between groups/condition. Postural movement components differed in people with DS from healthy controls not only in the "observable", behavioural phenotype (PM3 and PM8), but also in the amount of activation of the associated control (PM1 to PM8, over-activated in DS) in all spatial directions. INTERPRETATION: Results reinforced the prevalence of a medio-lateral hip strategy (instead of an ankle strategy) in maintaining postural stability. Most important, they revealed a less frequent activation of postural patterns in all spatial directions.

Quantification of upper body strategy during gait in children with spastic diplegia using a summary parameter.

A summary measure for quantification of the upper body position (Upper Body Profile Score [UBPS]) during gait was proposed and used in 38 children with Cerebral Palsy (CP) and 15 healthy children (Control Group: CG). Patients with CP exhibited higher values of most of the summary parameters of the upper body position than the CG. The higher influence on UBPS is by the upper body position in sagittal and transversal plane. A significant and fair correlation between UBPS and Gait Profile Score (a summary measure to quantify the lower limb gait pattern) suggests that altered upper body movements during walking could be associated with the presence of lower limb impairments.

Bilateral Foot Orthoses Elicit Changes in Gait Kinematics of Adolescents with Down Syndrome with Flatfoot.

Background: Subjects with Down Syndrome (DS) are characterized by specific physiological alterations, including musculoskeletal abnormalities. Flat Foot (FF), caused by hypotonia and ligament laxity, represents one of the most common disabling disorders in this population. Conservative treatments promote the use of orthopaedic insoles and plantar supports. The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of Foot Orthoses (FOs) on the gait pattern of subjects with DS, assessing the biomechanical effects associated with their use. Methods: Twenty-nine subjects were screened under two conditions-walking barefoot (WB); with shoes and insoles (WSI), during three trials for each. Assessments were performed through the 3D gait analysis, using an optoelectronic system, force platforms, and video recording. Specifically, synthetic indices of gait kinematics, i.e., gait profile score (GPS) and gait variable score (GVS) were calculated and compared with Wilcoxon signed-rank test, to evaluate between-conditions. Results: Significant variations were found in GVS foot progression index, representative of foot rotation during walking, in adolescents only. Conclusions: Bilateral FOs has a positive immediate impact on gait quality in adolescents with DS, as confirmed by quantitative analysis. FOs prescription is an evidence-based early approach to slow down biomechanical abnormalities and prevent relative symptoms.