Are Spatiotemporal Gait Characteristics Reliable Outcome Measures in Children With Developmental Coordination Disorder?

Abstract

To evaluate the reliability of spatiotemporal gait parameters used in the clinical evaluation of children with developmental coordination disorder (DCD). Participants recruited were asked to ambulate across a 4.5-meter GAITRite walkway (CIR Systems, Inc, Havertown, Pennsylvania) at a self-selected walking speed. The spatiotemporal parameters recorded for both limbs were: velocity (cm/sec), stance phase duration (%), swing phase duration (%), stride length (cm), double support duration (%), and single support duration (%). Intraclass correlation coefficient values attained in this study ranged from 0.24 to 0.73, with good reliability achieved for one parameter (cadence = 0.73), and moderate reliability for step length (0.55-0.58), stride length (0.57-0.61), and double support duration (0.56-0.59). The findings from this study indicate that the clinical evaluation of spatiotemporal gait parameters in children with DCD can yield reliable data for some parameters but further work on this is warranted.