Additional Perspectives on Simple Quantitative Gait Analysis

Abstract

Stuberg, Straw, and Devine (1990) and then Hicik and Radil (1990) present some interesting idormation regarding several relatively simple alternatives for quantitative gait analysis. The purpose of this note is to provide additional perspectives on simple quantitative gait analysis, particularly as it relates to patients with hemiparetic stroke. For such patients the documentation of speed alone can be very useful. Speed is a sensitive and valid measure (Mizrahi, Susak, Heller, & Najenson, 1982; Wade, Wood, Heller, Maggs, & Hewer, 1987) that correlates significantly with other measures such as cadence, appearance, independence, and distance (Bohannon, 1987, 19891, is important in a community setting (Robinett & Vondran, 1988), and can be determined easily with a stopwatch as patients walk over a known distance. As stride length or cadence can be determinants of walking speed oE hemiparetic stroke patients (Nakamura, Handa, Watanabe, & Morohashi, 1988), theu measurement too can be important. A large proportion of such patients walk below the 40 m.min.-' velocity at which Stuberg, Straw, and Devine (1990) found length of step could be measured reliably by a single observer with a tape recorder. When the patient's speed precludes the accurate observation of foot placement on a grid, a second observer can be employed. In a clinical setting in which I once worked, I Found it almost impossible to use the observational grid method of Robinson and Smidt (1981) with patients who had had hemiparetic stroke (in spite of theu slow speed). However, by using a separate observer to record each (left or right) foot's placement on the grid, foot placement could be documented for the reliable measurement of stride length.