Gait analysis of 57 healthy children by measurement of ground reaction forces on an Adal treadmill

PURPOSE OF THE STUDY: The purpose of this study was to present a new treadmill proposed for evaluating gait in children. We analysed differences in ground reaction forces between boys and girls, and we calculated the symmetry index in healthy children. MATERIAL AND METHOD: Time and ground reaction forces of about 30 steps were measured using a new treadmill. The apparatus consists of 2 walking belts which function as two independent treadmills placed side by side, separated by 4 mm. The 2 treadmills were mechanically separated in order to allow independent measurement of the ground reaction forces induced by each lower limb during stance phase. The children (28 boys and 29 girls), all clinically healthy, were divided into three groups according to their height (between 105 and 150 cm). They walked at three different velocities (2.7 km/h, 3.6 km/h and 4.5 km/h according to their height). The graphs representing the subject's measurements were composed of fore-aft, medial-lateral, and vertical parameters. The analysis of these graphs considered stride, stance, double stance and nine specific points. We also calculated the symmetry index of each child. RESULTS: We determined the values of the symmetry index in healthy children. We did not find any significant difference in gait between girls and boys, except for Fz3 at 2.7 kg/h, where Fz3 was higher in girls than in boys. DISCUSSION: We compared our results with those reported in the literature and found that ADAL has a very important advantage in gait analysis in children because it is simple and easily accepted by children.