Abstract
The aim of this study was to compare sagittal plane lower limb kinematics during walking on land and submerged to the hip in water. Eight healthy adults (age 22.1 ± 1.1 years, body height 174.8 ± 7.1 cm, body mass 63.4 ± 6.2 kg) were asked to cover a distance of 10 m at comfortable speed with controlled step frequency, walking forward or backward. Sagittal plane lower limb kinematics were obtained from three dimensional video analysis to compare spatiotemporal gait parameters and joint angles at selected events using two-way repeated measures ANOVA. Key findings were a reduced walking speed, stride length, step length and a support phase in water, and step length asymmetry was higher compared to the land condition (p<0.05). At initial contact, knees and hips were more flexed during walking forward in water, whilst, ankles were more dorsiflexed during walking backward in water. At final stance, knees and ankles were more flexed during forward walking, whilst the hip was more flexed during backward walking. These results show how walking in water differs from walking on land, and provide valuable insights into the development and prescription of rehabilitation and training programs.
Highlights
The ability to walk unaided plays a major role in people’s independence, quality of life, and participation in society (Schmid et al, 2007)
Whilst having potential safety or motivational benefits, from a biomechanical point of view there are two principal reasons why walking in water may be beneficial: lowering of apparent body weight due to buoyancy force leads to reduced gravitational stresses on the musculoskeletal system, whilst the increased resistance to movement due to fluid drag forces is expected to slow down the motion and allow a patient to more consciously control their movements (Barela and Duarte, 2008; Barela et al, 2006; Orselli and Duarte, 2011)
Measures The dependent variables were walking speed (the average speed of the center of mass of the hip (m/s)), stride length (the distance between two consecutive heel strikes by the same leg (m)), step length (the distance between two consecutive heel strikes (m/step)), support phase duration (the total time the body is supported by one leg during one complete gait cycle (%)), step length and step time asymmetry, ankle (o), knee (o) and hip (o) joints angles at initial contact (IC) and a final stance (FS) during each stride, and the medio-lateral as well as vertical displacements of the midpoint of the pelvis
Summary
The ability to walk unaided plays a major role in people’s independence, quality of life, and participation in society (Schmid et al, 2007). It is often impaired by musculoskeletal or neurological conditions or diseases such as osteoarthritis, balance disorders, multiple sclerosis, a stroke, or cerebral palsy (Bowden et al, 2012; Patterson et al, 2012a; Routson et al, 2013).
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