Tadashi Ito and Hideshi Sugiura of the Department of Integrative Health Sciences at Nagoya University, and Koji Noritake and Nobuhiko Ochi of the Mikawa Aoki Developmental Disabilities Medical Rehabilitation Center in Aichi Prefecture, determined the normative gait in Japanese children. They investigated age-related differences in lower extremity movements during walking using a three-dimensional gait analysis system.
The study found that the recorded gait of Japanese elementary school students varied by age. Their findings were published inScientific Reports” magazine. Although the gait patterns and gait parameters of typical Japanese children aged 6-12 are comparable to children in other developed countries, their development differs.
Dr. Tadashi Ito and his colleagues found four important differences between the age groups. First, children in the 11-12-year-old group showed an increase in gait, the number of steps completed in one minute, compared to the 6-8-year-old group. Second, 11-12-year-olds also experienced a decrease in stride length and stride length compared with 9-10-year-olds. Third, 11-12-year-olds have less range of motion in the knee joint during the gait cycle. Fourth, as children age, higher plantar flexion moments, that is, toe-pointing motions at the onset of walking motions, were observed.
“We believe that differences in lifestyle, stature, and cultural factors all affect the gait of Japanese children,” said Dr. Tadashi Ito. “This is unlikely to affect the health of Japanese children. But it does indicate characteristics that are different from children in other countries. These results provide an important tool for assessing normal and pathological gaits, which can determine orthopaedic treatment and rehabilitation for gait disorders. effectiveness.”