Kinematic gait analysis of a young man after amputation of the toes

Abstract

SummaryStudy aim: the foot is recognised as a "functional unit" with two important aims: to support body weight and to serve as a lever to propel the body forward. When it is impaired, the locomotor pattern has to adapt to compensate for the dysfunction. The purpose of this study was to investigate gait kinematics of a man after bilateral partial amputation of the toes. Material and methods: the subject of the study was a young man aged 30 years (body height and mass: 186 cm, 82 kg) who suffered a frostbite injury in the feet while climbing in the severe mountain conditions. After a few months of treatment, the necessary amputation occurred. Three-dimensional lower limb kinematics was collected from motion capture system (Vicon 250) and Golem marker set-up using 5 video-based cameras with infrared strobes. The subject performed over-ground walking at self-selected speed, first barefoot, then wearing athletic shoes. Results: the patient's results are the mean values of sixteen full gait cycles. The spatiotemporal parameters were lower during gait without shoes. In terms of the angular changes of the lower limb joints in sagittal plane, the analysis revealed similar functional patterns and typical trends in both recorded conditions. The differences, however, occurred in their amplitude. A larger range of motion was generally noted in shod conditions. The higher the joint was, the smaller the differences were. Conclusions: changes in gait due to the forefoot dysfunction may be stabilizing adaptations related to fear of falling. Footwear provided more stable conditions.

Lower limb loading during knee up in step aerobics: a pilot study

“…On the R-GRF curve, peak F4 represents the first contact of the foot with the floor, F5 represents transfer of the entire weight to the right leg and F6 represents the beginning of stepping up. Both curves are similar to those observed for the analysis of the kinetics of human gait [11]. However, it was noticeable that in the study group the average value of the F4 peak was 50% greater than the analogous F1 peak.…”

Association between the level of partial foot amputation and gait: a scoping review with implications for the minimum impairment criteria for wheelchair tennis

“…The characteristics of the included studies are presented in table 2. Most study designs were either cross-sectional (n=14) or case–control (n=6), with two case reports33 34 and three pre–post studies 35–37…”

“…The mean age of the adult participants with partial foot amputation ranged from 26 to 75.5 years, and 77.5% were men. Four studies did not report age,34 37 39 40 and seven did not report sex 19 30 32 36 39–43…”

“…Reasons for amputation included diabetes (n=10),26–29 39 41 44–49 finger or thumb reconstruction (n=5),33 37 38 40 50 trauma (n=4),30–32 51–53 peripheral vascular disease (n=3),39 42 43 tumour (n=1),54 rheumatoid arthritis (n=1),35 congenital and childhood-acquired amputation (n=1)36 and frostbite (n=1) 34…”

“…The complete list of outcomes, key findings of the included studies and descriptive synthesis of the results are presented in table 3 and online supplemental file 5. The most often studied gait-related outcome measure was gait speed, examined in 15 studies included in this review 26–29 32 34 36–38 42 44–46 48 50 52 53. Other outcome measures addressed in the studies included cadence (n=9),32 37 38 42 45 46 50 52 53 step length (n=8),28 34 37 40 45 50 52 53 single and/or double limb stance times (n=5),32 34 37 45 53 stride length (n=6),32 37 38 42 46 52 step width (n=2),37 45 CoP (n=6),30–33 38 43 50 51 peak plantar pressure (n=6),26 28 44 47–49 51 ankle power (n=5),28 31 46 52 53 walking distance (n=1)35 and ambulatory function (n=1) 39…”