A review of observational gait assessment in clinical practice

Abstract

For physical therapists observational gait assessment is preferable to instrumented gait assessment in the clinical setting. Existing observational gait assessment tools used in clinical practice were reviewed in terms of their validity, repeatability, sensitivity, and specificity. Most gait assessment tools lacked information concerning their validity or repeatability. In addition, most gait assessment tools had not had their sensitivity and specificity adequately evaluated. Current approaches to the development and use of observational gait assessment tools have been characterised by a top down approach, designing what is useful without any understanding of the appropriateness of a tool's content, construction, and so forth. We would advocate a more structured approach, by assessing gait using the gold standard of instrumented gait analysis and designing an observational gait assessment tool based on the data. Physiother Theory Pract Downloaded from informahealthcare.com by Nanyang Technological University on 08/25/15 For personal use only. Physiother Theory Pract Downloaded from informahealthcare.com by Nanyang Technological University on 08/25/15 For personal use only. OBSERVATIONAL GAIT ASSESSMENT 139 Physiother Theory Pract Downloaded from informahealthcare.com by Nanyang Technological University on 08/25/15 For personal use only. 148 B. TORO ET AL.Physiother Theory Pract Downloaded from informahealthcare.com by Nanyang Technological University on 08/25/15For personal use only.

Capability of 2 Gait Measures for Detecting Response to Gait Training in Stroke Survivors: Gait Assessment and Intervention Tool and the Tinetti Gait Scale

“…For assessing response to interventions, a credible tool is one that correctly identifies clinically relevant deviations from normal gait and quantifies relevant changes in gait as a result of an intervention. 3 Without reliable measurement performance, we forfeit 2 kinds of important capabilities: (1) the ability to credit efficacious rehabilitation methods, and (2) the ability to justify the financial support for providing effective gait training interventions. The StrokeEdge Taskforce of the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA) Neurology Section recently recommended the TGS for use in research gait assessment, 18 as the preferred gait assessment tool.…”

“…Studies [5][6][7][8][9][10][11] examining correlations between visual judgments and kinetic or kinematic measures are equivocal. Some have shown that because observational gait analysis depends on human visual judgment, it can be less reliable and less valid than instrumented gait measures, 1,3 although others have reported high correlations between visual judgments and biomechanical measures. 6,[8][9][10] Despite this limitation, the fact is that observational gait analysis is widely used in clinical and research settings because of its ease of use and practicality.…”

Outcome measures for Charcot‐Marie‐Tooth disease: clinical and neurofunctional assessment in children

“…• Videorecording of gait on frontal and sagittal plane according to a standard protocol (Toro et al, 2003).…”

Can early subclinical gait changes in children with haemophilia be identified using the GAITRite®walkway

“…There are few easily available, reliable methods of identifying early joint damage [11][12][13][14][15]. Newer portable tools, such as the GAITRite Ò offer the potential to provide quantitative reliable data on gait and therefore the possibility of identifying subtle changes in walking due to arthropathy [16].…”