Abstract
Physical therapists (PT) and clinicians must be skilled in identifying gait features through observation to assess motor deficits in patients and intervene appropriately. Inconsistent results in the literature have led researchers to question how clinical experience influences PT’s gait perception and to seek the key kinematic features that should be trained to enhance PT’s skill. Thus, this study investigated (1) what are the informative kinematic features that allow gait-deviation perception in amputee gait and (2) whether there are differences in observational gait skills between PT and individuals with less clinical experience (PT students [PTS] and Novices). We introduced a new method that combines biological motion and principal component analysis to gradually mesh amputee and typical walking patterns. Our analysis showed that on average the accuracy rate in identifying gait deviations between PT and PTS was similar and better than Novices. Also, we found that PT’s experience was demonstrated by their better perception of gait asymmetry. The extracted principal components demonstrated that the major gait deviation of amputees was the medial–lateral body sway and spatial gait asymmetry.
Highlights
Physical therapists (PT) and clinicians must be skilled in identifying gait features through observation to assess motor deficits in patients and intervene appropriately
Given the lack of a standardized training or assessment protocol to ensure the accuracy of OGA10, including the inconsistent results in the literature, we question whether clinicians exhibit better perception of gait patterns than untrained individuals
We expected that PT would be more sensitive in differentiating the less pronounced kinematics features
Summary
Physical therapists (PT) and clinicians must be skilled in identifying gait features through observation to assess motor deficits in patients and intervene appropriately. This study investigated (1) what are the informative kinematic features that allow gait-deviation perception in amputee gait and (2) whether there are differences in observational gait skills between PT and individuals with less clinical experience (PT students [PTS] and Novices). One explanation for such perceptual ability is that there is critical information that is distributed, and perceivable, through movement; information that is kinematically invariant[2,3] This ability to analyze gait patterns is clinically relevant as, through observation, physical therapists (PT) and other clinicians can assess motor deficits in patients[4]. Given the lack of a standardized training or assessment protocol to ensure the accuracy of OGA10, including the inconsistent results in the literature, we question whether clinicians exhibit better perception of gait patterns than untrained individuals. This is of relevance; if gait features perceived by PT are found to be useful, these should be goals for intervention, else, we understand why clinical observation
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