Assessment of ground reaction forces of steppage gait in comparison with normal gait

Abstract

Background: This pilot study aimed to assess quantitative differences between normal and steppage gait by analyzing force plate data. Materials and Methods: We studied 25 subjects with drop foot, who were treated in the orthopedic center for drop foot brace. Twenty healthy students were included as a control group. There were no differences in the age, weight, height, and body mass index between the patients and the controls (p > 0.05). They walked at self-selected speed with a mean of 10 trials (+2) to collect their ground reaction forces data by force plate. Results: There were no significant differences between the groups in antero-posterior component of ground reaction force (p > 0.05). There was significant relationship between the time parameters in vertical and medio-lateral components of ground reaction forces (p > 0.05). We have found that the medio-lateral impulse in the patients group is negative (p > 0.05), which means instability in patients' gait. Conclusion: The result of this research reveals that the analysis of ground reaction force quantitatively describes steppage gait. The average stance time among patients is longer than control group. Further work with a larger database of subjects is required to confirm our findings. © 2009 World Scientific Publishing Company.