Biomechanical alterations of gait on overweight subjects

Abstract

Introduction: Obesity is a major global public health issue and approximately half of the population is classified as overweight. Many studies have investigated gait modification in obese people; however, no research has been carried out in overweight subject´s gait influence. Methods: The goal of this study was to identify biomechanical changes on gait in overweight subjects by the application of principal component analysis (PCA). Two groups of adults participated of this study: overweight (n = 9; 25.0 < Body Mass Index < 29.9 kg/m 2), and normal-weight (n = 15; 20.0 < Body Mass Index < 24.9 kg/m 2. Three-dimensional kinematics of the lower limb and ground reaction forces (GRF) were recorded during gait. PCA was performed on data. Results: PCA evidenced statistical differences at the first principal component (PC) of the sagittal ankle movement, anteroposterior and mediolateral GRF, as well as at the third PC of the sagittal hip movement and mediolateral GRF. Overweight subjects walked with reduced ankle plantarflexion at toe-off and reduced hip flexion at the heel strike and at mid swing, as well as a reduced hip extension during push off. Additionally, increased anteroposterior and mediolateral GRF on overweight subjects were observed. Conclusion: overweight individuals might adjust their gait characteristics in response to their increased weight to reduce overload lower limbs joints. These gait modifications pointed to a possible increase in the risk of musculoskeletal pathology in this population.

Symmetry of Gait in Underweight, Normal and Overweight Children and Adolescents

“…There is a certain consensus in the literature on the fact that obese individuals walk with a significantly increased base of support (i.e., larger step width with respect to normal weight) [15,41], in order to reach and guarantee a higher dynamic stability. Larger step width has been found associated with increased values of medial lateral components of the GRF [42], which are also typical features of gait in obese individuals [41,43]. Since acceleration in the ML direction is influenced by the ML component of the GRF (that is, increased GRF originates major accelerations) we can hypothesize that the observed increase in HR in ML direction is directly linked to such phenomenon.…”

Kinematics, Speed, and Anthropometry-Based Ankle Joint Torque Estimation: A Deep Learning Regression Approach

“…However, considering the findings reported in [16,[21][22][23][24][25][26], there is evidence that lower limb biomechanical parameters (e.g., joint kinematics, torques, and muscle activations) are highly dependent on the subject's walking speed and anthropometric information (such as body height and mass). Additionally, it is being verified that the typical slower walking speeds of healthy subjects (2.8 km/h) may be higher than the preferred walking speeds of subjects with lower limb impairments (1.6-2.5 km/h) [27].…”

Gait Adaptations at 8 Years After Reconstruction of Unilateral Isolated and Combined Posterior Cruciate Ligament Injuries

“…While obese patients (BMI >30) typically exhibit altered knee mechanics during gait compared with normal weight patients, such differences have not been observed between normal weight and overweight persons. 41 Nonetheless, because body weight directly influences gait mechanics, future work should confirm this speculation by comparing groups that are also matched for weight. Furthermore, knee angles and moments during gait can be affected by spatiotemporal parameters (eg, gait speed, stride length) 18 , 34 ; yet, these characteristics were not different between groups.…”