Changes in the gait analysis associated parameters of healthy people and patients with joint disease

Yuehong BAI; Jun ZHOU; Juan LIANG

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND:

Gait analysis enable to convert qualitative analysis and description used for a long time in orthopedic examination and rehabilitative treatment into objective and precise quantitative assessment. At the present, with the development of science and technology, three-dimensional (3D) gait analysis is more and more widely, extensively used in orthopedic surgery and rehabilitation medicine abroad, while much less in China.

OBJECTIVE:

To study the parameters of time-distance, kinematics, kinetic and electromyography (EMG) in healthy subjects and patients with backbone, hip, knee or ankle joint diseases.

DESIGN:

Comparative observation and control study.

PARTICIPANTS:

From December 2004 to July 2005, 40 healthy subjects and 112 patients suffering from backbone and hip, knee, ankle joint disease were selected from the Department of Rehabilitative Medicine, Sixth People's Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University and analyzed by three dimensional gait analysis system (VICON 612 system made by Britain VICON Company). 112 patients including 42 males with the mean age of (46.2 ± 2.3) years and 70 females with the mean age (41.2 ± 3.5) years were screened by skilled clinicians after surgical and rehabilitative treatment.Among them there were 21 patients with cervical vertebra, 26 patients with prolapse of lumbar intervertebral disc and lumbar spinal stenosis. The number of hip, knee, ankle joint disease was 12, 34, 19 respectively. Total hip replacement was included in hip joint disease, anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction was included in knee joint disease, talipes equinovarus was included in ankle joint disease. Meanwhile, 40 healthy subjects who were 20-40 years old, male or female, without any clinical symptom of backbone and limbs volunteered in the study.

METHODS:

Gait analysis were carried out on 40 healthy volunteers and 112 operational and rehabilitative treatment patients with spinal and lower limb diseases using VICON 612 system made by Britain VICON Company.MAIN OUTCOME

MEASURES:

The time-distance parameters (cadence, step length, walking speed), kinematics parameters (knee flexion/extension degree, hip flexion/extension degree, ankle dorsi/plantar degree), kinetic parameters (knee force in Z axis, hip force in Z axis, normalized force in Z axis) and EMG parameters (vastus lateralis SEMG) of lower limbs were examined.

RESULTS:

A total of 40 healthy subjects and 112 patients were involved in the analysis of results. ① Time-distance parameter Cadence, as well as step length and walking speed of patients with backbone disease, patients with hip joint disease, patients with knee joint disease, and patients with ankle joint disease were lower than those of healthy subjects,and the difference between two groups was significant (P ＜ 0.05-0.01). ② Kinematic and kinetic parameters of all joints in upper limbs One year after left ACL knee reconstruction, the extension of left knee in initial contact phase was 9° less than that of right one and the stress in Z axis of left knee was much less than that of right one; One year after left THA,the flexion of left hip in initial contact phase was 8.5° less than that of right one, the extension of left hip in terminal stance phase was 3° less than that of right one, during stance phase the stress in Z axis of left hip was much less than that of right one; As to an infantile paralysis patient with talipes equinovarus, the dorsiflexion of left ankle in initial contact phase was 12° less than that of right one, the plantar flexion of left ankle in terminal stance phase was 5° less than that of right one. The stress in Z axis of left ankle during stance phase was much less than that of right one. However, the difference in range of motion and stress in Z axis was not significant between the left and right knee joint in healthy people. ③ One year after left total knee arthroplasty, the dynamic surface electromyogram signals of left vastus lateralis is much lower than that of right vastus lateralis in a gait cycle.

CONCLUSION:

3D gait analysis enables tprovide objective basis for making operation scheme for orthopedic surgery and after-operation rehabilitation therapy, and assessing curative effect of rehabilitation therapy.