Abstract
Aims: Dynamic joint stiffness (DJS) is used as a joint stability indicator. The objective of the present study is to verify the influence of footedness in ankle joint stability during the gait stance phase. Study Design: Comparative study. Place and Duration of Study: MovLab/ CICANT/ Universidade Lusofona de Humanidades e Tecnologias, between November 2013 and June 2014 Methodology: 31 subjects (20 female and 11 male) presenting different footedness (right and left) were assessed. Ten gait stance phase trials (five each side) were recorded using a 3D motion capture system and a force platform. Synchronized ankle sagittal moment of force and angular position were used to calculate DJS for three defined sub-phases of gait stance phase: controlled Original Research Article Atalaia et al.; JSRR, 5(2): 175-183, 2015; Article no.JSRR.2015.085 176 plantar flexion, controlled dorsiflexion and powered plantar flexion. Mann-Whitney U test was calculated to assess footedness influence on biomechanical variables. Results: No significant differences were found between dominant and non-dominant limb in different combinations of footedness and gender. Conclusion: Footedness do not seem to influence DJS and consequent joint stability. Observing the trials per participant, differences can be noted but commonly used statistical approach cannot highlight those differences. Further studies should address ankle frontal plane behaviour or assess differences at the knee and hip joints, as they could present more differences that could be statistically significant.
Highlights
Joint stability can be defined as control of the alignment of the joint segments and its angular position along an intended pathway, within the normal limits of the joint’s movement freedom [1,2,3]
Crenna and Frigo [4] divided this loop into three basic sub-phases: the first sub-phase starts at initial contact, with a plantar flexion movement associated with a plantar flexion moment; the second sub-phase begins at load response phase, when a change in the direction of ankle movement towards dorsiflexion paired with a dorsiflexion moment can be observed; the third sub-phase start when both angle and moment decrease, indicating a plantar flexion movement and moment that occurs in preparation for the gait swing phase
Safaeepour and colleagues [6] proposed that these sub-phases could be used to calculate Dynamic joint stiffness (DJS) throughout gait stance phase, naming them the controlled plantar flexion (CPF), controlled dorsiflexion (CDF) and powered plantar flexion (PPF) phases respectively
Summary
Joint stability can be defined as control of the alignment of the joint segments and its angular position along an intended pathway, within the normal limits of the joint’s movement freedom [1,2,3]. This ability is the sum of the contributions that passive and active joint components make to stability in typical daily living tasks. Safaeepour and colleagues [6] proposed that these sub-phases could be used to calculate DJS throughout gait stance phase, naming them the controlled plantar flexion (CPF), controlled dorsiflexion (CDF) and powered plantar flexion (PPF) phases respectively
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