Walking Patterns in Down's Syndrome

Walking economy in male adults with Down syndrome

“…Gait stability is an important issue for people with DS, as their upright locomotion is aVected by low muscle tone and ligamentous laxity. Individuals with DS present increased Xuctuation of ankle movement during the walking cycle, lower walking velocities, shorter steps, wider strides and more time spent in both stance and double support (Parker et al 1985;Smith and Ulrich 2008), all of which can probably modify their overall energy consumption during ambulation.…”

Gait and Balance

“…It has been shown that they walk slower, with higher cadence, shorter step length, wider base of stance width and longer double support phase (Cioni et al 2001;Galli et al 2008a;Kubo and Ulrich 2006a;Kubo and Ulrich 2006b;Parker and Bronks 1980;Parker et al 1986;Smith et al 2007;Smith and Ulrich 2008;Ulrich et al 2004;Virji-Babul and Brown 2004). The reduced walking speed is also reflected in the decreased ground reaction forces during the push off phase (Cioni et al 2001;Galli et al 2008a;Kubo and Ulrich 2006a;Smith et al 2007;Smith and Ulrich 2008).…”

“…A recent study has shown that the level of co-contraction of the leg muscle, especially during the swing phase, is increased during gait in people with Down syndrome (Gontijo et al 2008). As a result, they adopt a stiffer gait pattern, with reduced range of motion and the hip and knee joints are more flexed through the gait cycle (Galli et al 2008a;Parker and Bronks 1980;Parker et al 1986;Ulrich et al 2004). A further mechanism that contributes to increased energy cost is increased activation of the upper body muscles (McArdle et al 2007;Winter 2005) and movement of the head (Parker and Bronks 1980) which reflect a compensatory response to imbalance.…”

Gait Patterns of Children with Idiopathic Hypotonia

“…Previous work has identified several hip deviations not found in the present study. These include increased hip adduction in swing [11], increased hip abduction in swing, decreased hip extension in swing [18] and decreased sagittal hip joint moments and power [1].…”

“…DS is typically associated with central hypotonia, in which global or whole body abnormalities in muscle tone are present [19]. Reported deviations in kinematic gait parameters in DS include flat foot contact, reduced sagittal ankle angles [18], increased stance phase dorsiflexion [11], increased hip and knee flexion postures [10,11,17,18], decreased hip extension in terminal swing [11,17], increased hip abduction in swing [17], increased hip adduction in swing [11], increased pelvic rotations [1], external foot rotation [1] and longer duration in stance phase [17,18]. Reported deviations in kinetics included reduced sagittal ankle moments [1,6,9,11], reduced ankle power [1,6], absence of the sagittal knee extensor moment peak [10] and decreased sagittal hip joint moments and hip power [1].…”