Lower limb muscle activity during gait in individuals with hearing loss

Abstract

The objective of this study was to investigate the electrical activity of lower limb muscles during gait in an able-bodied control group and in deaf individuals. Thirty male children were equally divided into a control group and a group of deaf children. A portable EMG system was used to record the activity of the bilateral tibialis anterior, gastrocnemius medialis and vastus lateralis muscles during barefoot walking with and without dual task. For EMG analysis, the average root mean square (RMS) values of the five trials were calculated and then normalized based on the peak RMS obtained by the maximum isometric voluntary contraction. MANOVA test was used for between group comparisons. The significance level was set at p< 0.05 for all analyses. The findings indicated that gait speed in children with hearing loss was smaller than that in control group. Dual task resulted in a decreased walking speed of children with hearing loss. The activities of tibialis anterior muscle in terminal stance phase (p = 0.040), medial gastrocnemius muscle in loading response and initial swing phases (p < 0.05), and vastus lateralis muscle in the terminal stance and pre swing phases (p < 0.05) were greater in deaf group. In deaf children the gait speed was reduced and the muscle activity was increased with respect to those in control group. This altered gait speed and muscle activity is suggestive of a lower mechanical efficiency of gait in deaf children.

Cardiorespiratory fitness and muscular strength of deaf futsal players

“…In addition, it is believed that prolonged periods of hearing loss may cause significant changes in sensory processing and motor deficits (Lévesque et al, 2014), which may influence maximal aerobic efficiency. Decreased gait speed and increased muscle activity were reported in children with hearing impairment, suggesting low gait efficiency (Majlesi et al, 2017). Recently, a study that evaluated the levels of physical activity with an accelerometer showed that younger deaf individuals are not physically active enough, which may influence their level of cardiorespiratory fitness (Lobenius-Palmér et al, 2018).…”