Dual-task effects on lower extremity gait coordination during barefoot & shod walking

Abstract

Past research has indicated significant footwear effects on spatiotemporal and discrete gait variables during gait; however, the level of tactile feedback has also been shown to be an important modulator of gait patterns. The present study aimed to investigate changes in coordination of lower extremity gait coordination during normal shod and barefoot walking, as well as during a simple attention diverting task (matching a metronome during walking). Fifteen (10 female, five male) healthy participants walked on an instrumented walkway during six conditions. Lower extremity kinematic data were collected and continuous relative phase values were calculated for two adjacent joints to determine inter-segmental coordination. Results indicate that participants exhibited significantly longer strides (P ≤ 0.04) when shod as opposed to barefoot. Participants also displayed greater thigh-shank coordination variability during the shod, fixed cadence conditions. The present study suggests that individuals will display greater lower extremity coordination variability during dual-task conditions when shod as opposed to barefoot. K E Y W O R D Sbiomechanics, coordination variability, footwear, gait