Effects of Visually Augmented Gait Training on Foot-Ground Clearance: An Intervention to Reduce Tripping-Related Falls.

Minimum toe clearance (MTC ∼10-30 mm) is a hazardous mid-swing gait event, characterized by high-foot velocity (∼4.60 m·s-1) and single-foot support. This experiment tested treadmill-based gait training effects on MTC. Participants were 10 young (4 males and 6 females) and 10 older (6 males and 4 females) healthy ambulant individuals. The mean age, stature, and body mass for the younger group was 23 (2) years, 1.72 (0.10) m, and 67.5 (8.3) kg, and for older adults was 77 (9) years, 1.64 (0.10) m, and 71.1 (12.2) kg. Ten minutes of preferred speed treadmill walking (baseline) was followed by 20 minutes with MTC information (feedback) and 10 minutes without feedback (retention). There were no aging effects on MTC in baseline or feedback. The MTC in baseline for older adults was 14.2 (3.5) mm and feedback 27.5 (8.7) mm, and for the younger group, baseline was 12.7 (2.6) mm and feedback 28.8 (5.1) mm, respectively. Retention MTC was significantly higher for both groups, indicating a positive effect of augmented information: younger 40.8 (7.3) mm and older 27.7 (13.6) mm. Retention joint angles relative to baseline indicated that the young modulated joint angles control MTC differently using increased ankle dorsiflexion at toe off and modulating knee and hip angles later in swing closer to MTC.

Reliability of 3D Lower Extremity Movement Analysis by Means of Inertial Sensor Technology during Transitional Tasks.

This study assesses the reliability and agreement of trunk and lower limb joints' 3D kinematics, measured by inertial measurement units, during walking and more demanding movement tasks. For data analysis, tasks were divided in open and closed chain phases. Twenty healthy participants were included. On day one, measurements were conducted by "Operator 1" and "Operator 2" to determine between-operator reliability/agreement. On day two, the measurements were conducted by Operator 1, in order to determine within-session reliability/agreement. Furthermore, between-session reliability/agreement was assessed based on data from Operator 1, captured on day one and two. Within-session reliability/agreement was high, and better than between-session and between-operator results for all tasks. The results for walking were generally better than for other movement tasks, for all joint kinematics, and for both open and closed chain phases. Only for the ab/adduction and flexion/extension angles during forward and sideward lunge, reliability and agreement results were comparable to walking, for both the open and closed chain phases. The fact that lunges show similar reliability results than walking for open and closed chain phases, but require more motor control to perform, indicates that the performance of lunges might be interesting to use in further research aiming to identify kinematic differences between populations.