Relations between gait characteristics and subjective visual vertical results in young adults

OBJECTIVE: Subjective visual vertical (SVV) deviation can indicate impairments of motion perception and spatial orientation in individuals with vestibular disorders. This study investigated the influence of SVV on tandem gait ability by assessing differences between temporal, spatial, and kinematic characteristics in young adults. METHODS: We recruited sixteen young adults with increased SVV and 17 age-matched control subjects. All subjects recruited for this study were with no history of neurological or musculoskeletal diseases.Knee and hip-joint kinematic data, spatio-temporal parameters, and gait variability were measured during tandem gait. RESULTS: Stride time variability and stride velocity variability were significantly greater in the experimental group than the control group (p 0.05) and spatio-temporal parameters were similarbetween the two groups (p > 0.05). CONCLUSION: Stride time variability and stride velocity variability during tandem gait were significantly different in the experimental and control groups. We presume that increased SVV deviation is related to greater gait variability during tandem gait.