Kinematic Gait Parameters Research Articles

Biometric Data Comparison Between Lewis and Sprague Dawley Rats.

Introduction: Pressure mapping systems are often used for indirect assessment of kinematic gait parameter differences after repair of critical peripheral nerve defects in small animal models. However, there does not appear to be any literature that studies the differences in normal gait pattern of Sprague Dawley rats compared to Lewis rats using a Tekscan VH4 pressure mat system. The purpose of this study is to assess the gait profile of Lewis and Sprague Dawley rats generated by Tekscan's VH4 system to detect similarities and/or differences in gait parameters involving both force and temporal variables.Materials and Methods: The gait profile of 14 Lewis and 14 Sprague Dawley rats was recorded using a Tekscan VH4 pressure map system with two successful walks per animal and gait parameter data was normalized for mean variance between the two rodent strains.Results: The results showed that temporal and normalized force parameters were not significantly different between the two types of rats. Maximum force, contact area, stride length, and adjusted pressure variables were significantly different between the two strains, likely attributed to the body size and weight differential between the strains. Variation in some of these parameters were considered due to differences in overall body size between the two strains, variations in gait kinematics between individual rodent subjects, and the limitations of the current experimental design.Conclusion: For future in vivo models, either Sprague Dawley or Lewis rat strains would be acceptable animal models when comparing base-line gait profiles using the Tekscan VH4 pressure map system when assessing critical defect repairs of peripheral nerves.

Análise cinemática da marcha pós protocolo de fadiga global de curta duração

AIMS: Evaluate the effects of a short-term fatigue protocol on gait’s kinematic parameters of healthy subjects.METHODS: 21 healthy young adults participated in the sample. The parameters of linear kinematics of gait (velocity, cadence, step length, step width, step time) and angular kinematics of gait (hip’s flexion and extension; knee’s flexion and extension; ankle’s dorsiflexion and plantar flexion) were analyzed before and after performing a short-term fatigue protocol. For gait evaluation, a three dimensional gait trajectory capture system was used, consisting of a kinematic system with 7 integrated cameras. The Short-Term Functional Agility Fatigue Protocol, which consists of a short-term global fatigue protocol with series of functional agility exercises, was used to fatigue participants. For comparisons between pre and post fatigue evaluations, the mean values to paired t test, and statistical significance was set as p < 0.05.RESULTS: There were no statistically significant differences in the angular and linear parameters evaluated, except for cadence (p = 0.03).CONCLUSIONS: The short-term global fatigue protocol did not alter the angular and kinematic gait parameters in young subjects, except for the cadence, that was higher after the fatigue protocol.

Application of the Gait Deviation Index in the analysis of post-stroke hemiparetic gait

Due to the complexity and volume of kinematic data from 3-dimensional gait analysis, the Gait Deviation Index (GDI) was introduced as a summary measure providing a global picture of gait kinematic data, however previously it was not validated as an outcome measure in individuals after stroke. The present study investigated the concurrent validity of the GDI as an outcome measure of gait defects at a chronic stage of recovery post-stroke, through comparisons with conventional measures of gait. Those enrolled included 65 individuals after stroke and 65 healthy individuals without gait disorders, matched for age and gender. The kinematic gait parameters were measured using a movement analysis system. Walking speed, walking distance, number of steps, self-reliant mobility, cadence, step length, and single support time were evaluated. Strong correlation was found between cadence and mGDI as well as GDI for the affected leg (0.7 ≤ |R| < 0.9; p < 0.001). Moderate correlations were found between walking speed, number of steps, step length affected leg and mGDI as well as GDI for the affected leg (0.5 ≤ |R| < 0.7; p < 0.001). Low correlations were found between walking distance, self-reliant mobility, single support time affected leg and mGDI as well as GDI for the affected leg (0.3 ≤ |R| < 0.5; p < 0.001; p < 0.005). The findings confirm the concurrent validity of the GDI, but only for the affected leg and mGDI in post-stroke patients. On the other hand, the GDI for unaffected leg may be useful in efforts to identify any compensatory mechanisms developing in post-stroke gait patterns.Trial registration: anzctr.org.au, ID:ACTRN12617000436370. Registered 24 March 2017.

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Introduction Cerebral palsy is the most common cause of motor disorders that occurs in early childhood and is present throughout life. The incidence rate of the disease is 1/500 newborns. About 17 million people with cerebral palsy live in the world. According to domestic epidemiologists, the reported incidence of cerebral palsy in Russia is from 2.2 to 3.8 per 1,000 births. Spastic cerebral palsy types are 80% of all the cases. Purpose Analysis of changes in the kinematic parameters of gait after multilevel interventions in children with cerebral palsy with the initial true equinus gait and jump gait patterns. Material and methods This retrospective study included 64 children (26 girls, 38 boys) with cerebral palsy and spastic diplegia. The average age was 8.7 ± 2.41 years. All patients corresponded to levels I or II of impaired motor function (GMFCS: I/II = 14/50). Results All patients showed a significant improvement in the kinematic parameters of gait throughout the observation period. Deviation from the normal values decreased almost four times in the whole group of patients. Conclusion Multilevel single-event orthopedic interventions improve the kinematic and kinetic parameters of the gait of the entire biomechanical chain in the lower extremities. In addition to the local effects of surgical interventions (elimination of orthopedic disorders such as contractures and deformities of bones and joints of the lower extremities), there are long-term changes in the reduction of energyconsumptive compensatory movements.

Do kinematic parameters of gait discriminate fallers and non-fallers in Parkinson's disease?

Introduction Many clinical factors have been associated with falling in PD but the utility of gait analysis remains uncertain. To determine if additional use of clinical characteristics of the disease combined with gait parameters distinguish PD fallers from non-fallers Material and methods One hundred and seventy-four subjects were recorded during stabilized with a videomotion system. Clinical characteristics included UPDRS 3, disease duration, MMSE, occurrence of falls and freezing of gait. Kinematic parameters of gait first include gait speed, stride length and time, gait asymmetry, gait variability, foot clearance. A classification approach was investigated to build models allowing distinguishing fallers from non-fallers. Two different models were built, one by considering only the clinical data: age, disease duration, UPDRS III and MMSE scores and the second by adding to these data, gait analysis data. Support vectors machines (SVM) algorithm was used to build the models. The models were learned to tune their parameters using 4/5 of the patients’ data, randomly selected and validated blindly of the remaining 1/5 data. Results Clinical factors have an accuracy of 0.91 to distinguish fallers from non-fallers. Adding some relevant parameters such as stride length, foot clearance, variability improves this accuracy of 0.95. This was confirmed with a test sample with an accuracy of 0.87. Discussion/conclusion Fallers distinguished from non-fallers by disease duration and motor impairment but adding gait measurement improves the accuracy of the clinical data. Further research should concentrate to validate these models in prospective cohorts.

Comparing the Effect of a Fatigue Protocol on Kinematic Gait Parameters in Students With Genu Valgum and Genu Varum and Their Normal Peers

Comparing the Effect of a Fatigue Protocol on Kinematic Gait Parameters in Students With Genu Valgum and Genu Varum and Their Normal Peers

Effect of a load distribution system on mobility and performance during simulated and field hiking while under load

This study was conducted to test a modular scalable vest–load distribution system (MSV-LDS) against the plate carrier system (PC) currently used by the United States Marine Corps. Ten Marines engaged in 1.6 km load carriage trials in seven experimental conditions in a laboratory study. Kinematic, kinetic, and spatiotemporal gait parameters, muscle activity (electromyography), heart rate, caloric expenditure, shooting reaction times, and subjective responses were recorded. There was lower mean trapezius recruitment for the PC compared with the MSV-LDS for all conditions, and muscle activity was similar to baseline for the MSV-LDS. Twenty-seven Marines carrying the highest load were evaluated in the field, which measured an increase in energy expenditure with MSV-LDS; however, back discomfort was reduced. The field evaluation showed significantly reduced estimated ground reaction force on flat-ground segments with the MSV-LDS, and the data suggest both systems were comparable with respect to mobility and energy cost. Practitioner summary: This study found that a novel load distribution system appears to redistribute load for improved comfort as well as reduce estimated ground reaction force when engaged in hiking activities. Further, hiking with a load distribution system enables more neutral walking posture. Implications of load differences in loads carried are examined. Abbreviations: AGRF: anterior-posterior ground reaction forces; CAREN: Computer Assisted Rehabilitation Environment; GRF: ground reaction forces; HR: heart rate; ML-GRF: mediolateral ground reaction forces; MOLLE: Modular Lightweight Load-carrying Equipment; MSV-LDS: modular scalable vest–load distribution system; NHRC: Naval Health Research Center; PC: plate carrier; PPE: personal protective equipment; RPE: rating of perceived exertion; SAPI: small arms protective insert; sEMG: surface electromyography; USMC: United States Marine Corps; VGRF: Ground reaction forces in the vertical.

Characteristics of newly acquired gait in toddlers with unilateral cerebral palsy: Implications for early rehabilitation.

Knowledge of the characteristics of newly acquired gait in toddlers with cerebral palsy (CP) is limited. This study compared gait characteristics (spatiotemporal parameters, kinematics and lower-limb muscle activation) within the first 6months of independent walking in toddlers with unilateral cerebral palsy (UCP) and typically developing (TD) children. The gait of 28TD toddlers and 13toddlers with UCP, all up to 3years old with maximum walking experience of 6 months, was recorded by using a 3-D optoelectronic system and surface electromyography (EMG). Statistical parametric mapping was used to compare the kinematic parameters and EMG envelopes. Mann-Whitney U test was used to compare spatiotemporal parameters between groups. Principal component analysis was used to determine whether the main kinematic results were related to the clinical measures. Toddlers with UCP had bilateral modifications of the spatiotemporal parameters during gait as compared with TD toddlers and temporal asymmetry. The largest kinematic difference between the UCP and TD groups was external pelvic rotation on the affected side (13.3°). Foot progression angle was external during swing phase on the affected side. The groups did not differ in muscle activation for the set of muscles recorded. Pelvic rotation was not associated with any of the clinical measures on the affected or non-affected sides of toddlers with UCP. Alterations in kinematic gait parameters were mostly found at the pelvis in toddlers with UCP and newly acquired gait. At that age, the external pelvic rotation on the affected side is more likely due to primary motor control disorders than compensatory mechanisms. These findings suggest that early rehabilitation should focus on proximal motor control, balance and symmetry to optimize gait development from the early stages in children with UCP.

Validation of a Single RGB-D Camera for Gait Assessment of Polyneuropathy Patients.

Motion analysis systems based on a single markerless RGB-D camera are more suitable for clinical practice than multi-camera marker-based reference systems. Nevertheless, the validity of RGB-D cameras for motor function assessment in some diseases affecting gait, such as Transthyretin Familial Amyloid Polyneuropathy (TTR-FAP), is yet to be investigated. In this study, the agreement between the Kinect v2 and a reference system for obtaining spatiotemporal and kinematic gait parameters was evaluated in the context of TTR-FAP. 3-D body joint data provided by both systems were acquired from ten TTR-FAP symptomatic patients, while performing ten gait trials. For each gait cycle, we computed several spatiotemporal and kinematic gait parameters. We then determined, for each parameter, the Bland Altman’s bias and 95% limits of agreement, as well as the Pearson’s and concordance correlation coefficients, between systems. The obtained results show that an affordable, portable and non-invasive system based on an RGB-D camera can accurately obtain most of the studied gait parameters (excellent or good agreement for eleven spatiotemporal and one kinematic). This system can bring more objectivity to motor function assessment of polyneuropathy patients, potentially contributing to an improvement of TTR-FAP treatment and understanding, with great benefits to the patients’ quality of life.

Human Gait Analysis Metric for Gait Retraining.

The combined gait asymmetry metric (CGAM) provides a method to synthesize human gait motion. The metric is weighted to balance each parameter's effect by normalizing the data so all parameters are more equally weighted. It is designed to combine spatial, temporal, kinematic, and kinetic gait parameter asymmetries. It can also combine subsets of the different gait parameters to provide a more thorough analysis. The single number quantifying gait could assist robotic rehabilitation methods to optimize the resulting gait patterns. CGAM will help define quantitative thresholds for achievable balanced overall gait asymmetry. The study presented here compares the combined gait parameters with clinical measures such as timed up and go (TUG), six-minute walk test (6MWT), and gait velocity. The comparisons are made on gait data collected on individuals with stroke before and after twelve sessions of rehabilitation. Step length, step time, and swing time showed a strong correlation to CGAM, but the double limb support asymmetry has nearly no correlation with CGAM and ground reaction force asymmetry has a weak correlation. The CGAM scores were moderately correlated with TUG and strongly correlated to 6MWT and gait velocity.

Kinematics associated with treadmill walking in Rett syndrome

Background and purpose Individuals with Rett syndrome suffer from severely impaired cognitive and motor performance. Current movement-related therapeutic programs often include traditional physical therapy activities and assisted treadmill walking routines for those individuals who are ambulatory. However, there are no quantitative reports of kinematic gait parameters obtained during treadmill walking. The purpose of this research was to characterize the kinematic patterns of the lower limbs during treadmill walking as speed was slowly increased. Methods Seventeen independently ambulatory females diagnosed with a methyl-CpG-binding protein 2 gene mutation walked on a motorized treadmill while joint kinematics were obtained by a camera-based motion capture system and analysis software. Results Stride times progressively decreased as treadmill speeds increased. There were significant main effects of speed on sagittal knee and hip ranges of motion and hip velocity. There were large joint asymmetries and variance values relative to other ambulatory patient populations, although variance values decreased as walking speed increased. Conclusions The results indicate that individuals with Rett syndrome can adapt their kinematic gait patterns in response to increasing treadmill speed, but only within a narrow range of speeds. We suggest that treadmill training for ambulatory individuals with Rett syndrome may promote improved walking kinematics and possibly provide overall health benefits. Implications for rehabilitation Walking is an activity that can counter the negative impacts of the sedentary lifestyle of many individuals with disabilities, including those individuals with Rett syndrome. Documentation of the lower limb kinematic patterns displayed during walking by ambulatory females with Rett syndrome can be used by clinicians to evaluate their patients’ gait performance in response to therapeutic and pharmacological interventions designed to promote walking. The ability to adapt to increases in treadmill speed suggests that a training program of treadmill walking may be effective in promoting improved gait performance in individuals with Rett syndrome.

Slower than normal walking speeds involve a pattern shift in joint and temporal coordination contributions.

Kinematic and spatiotemporal gait parameters are known to scale with gait speed, though inter-joint coordination during swing remains consistent, at least across comfortable speeds. The purpose of this study was to determine whether coordination patterns serving limb clearance and shortening change across a range of gait speeds. We assessed 17 healthy adults walking overground at their self-selected speed and multiple, progressively slower speeds. We collected lower extremity kinematics with 3D motion analysis and quantified joint influence, or relative joint contributions, to limb clearance and shortening. We investigated changes in coordination using linear mixed models to determine magnitude and timing differences of joint influence across walking speeds. Joint influences serving limb clearance (hip, knee, and ankle) reduced considerably with slower walking speeds. Similarly, knee and ankle influences on limb shortening reduced with slower walking speeds. Temporally, joint influences on limb clearance varied across walking speeds. Notably, the temporal order of peak hip and knee influences reversed below typical self-selected walking speeds. For limb shortening, the timing of knee and ankle influences occurred later in the gait cycle as walking speed decreased. While relative joint contributions serve limb clearance and shortening scale with walking speeds, our results demonstrate that temporal coordination of limb clearance is altered in healthy individuals as walking speed falls below the range of typical self-selected walking speeds.

Detecting the presence of anterior cruciate ligament deficiency based on a double pendulum model, intrinsic time-scale decomposition (ITD) and neural networks

The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) possesses the function of stabilizing the knee joint through limiting anterior tibial translation and controlling tibial rotation. Patients with unilateral ACL deficiency often demonstrate alterations of knee kinematics, kinetics and gait patterns in the deficient side in comparison to the unaffected contralateral side. This also leads to the early onset of osteoarthritis. In order to detect and monitor the progression of ACL deficiency over time, various classification approaches using spatiotemporal gait variables have been presented. In this study we propose a novel method for classifying gait patterns between ACL-deficient (ACLD) knee and unaffected contralateral ACL-intact (ACLI) knee based upon gait system dynamics, intrinsic time-scale decomposition (ITD) and neural networks. First, human leg is modeled as a double-pendulum to imitate and simplify the human walking. Since the lower extremities act as a kinetic chain during dynamic tasks, control of the hip joint will interact with knee motion. Related gait kinematic parameters including knee and hip joint angle and angular velocity are decomposed into a series of proper rotation components (PRCs) and a baseline signal by using the ITD method. The first PRCs of knee and hip joint angle and angular velocity are extracted, which contain most of the kinematic signals’ vibration energy and are considered to be the predominant PRCs. Third, neural networks are then used as the classifier with feature vectors as the input to distinguish between ACLD and ACLI knees based on the difference of gait system dynamics between the two groups. Finally, experiments are carried out on forty-three patients to assess the effectiveness of the proposed method. By using the leave-one-out cross-validation style under normal and fast walking speed conditions, the correct classification rates are reported to be $$95.12\%$$ and $$93.28\%$$, respectively. In comparison to other state-of-the-art methods, the results demonstrate superior performance and the proposed method may serve as a potential assistant tool for the automatic detection of ACL deficiency in the clinical application.

Kinetic and Kinematic Analysis of Gait in Type IV Osteogenesis Imperfecta Patients: A Comparative Study

Background:Osteogenesis imperfecta (OI) is a genetic connective tissue disorder characterized by skeletal deformity and increased risk of fracture. Independent mobility is of concern for OI patients as it is associated with the quality of life. The present study investigates the variation of kinetic and kinematic gait parameters of type IV OI subjects and compares them with age-matched healthy subjects.Materials and Methods:Gait analysis is performed on five type IV OI patients and six age-matched normal subjects. Spatiotemporal, kinematic, and kinetic data are obtained using Helen Hayes marker placement protocol.Results:The results indicate an imprecise double-humped profile for vertical ground reaction force (GRF) with reduced ankle push off power and walking speed for OI subjects. Moreover, a comparison of vertical GRFs in OI subjects with that of healthy subjects suggests lower values for the former. The results encourage and motivate for further investigation with a bigger set of subjects.Conclusion:This information may be useful in developing a better understanding of pathological gait in type IV OI subjects, which ultimately helps the design of subject-specific implants, surgical preplanning, and rehabilitation.

A single session of anodal transcranial direct current stimulation applied over the affected primary motor cortex does not alter gait parameters in chronic stroke survivors

The excitability of some neural circuits involved in walking and affected in individuals with chronic stroke can be modulated during and/or immediately after anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (a-tDCS). This study was designed to investigate the effects of a-tDCS during and immediately after application on leg muscle activity during gait, and on spatiotemporal and kinematic gait parameters in patients with chronic stroke. This study was randomized, sham-controlled and double-blinded with a cross-over design and included 24 individuals with chronic stroke. Each participant underwent one 30-minute session each of effective a-tDCS at 2mA and sham tDCS. In both sessions, the anode was placed over the leg motor cortex of the affected hemisphere and the cathode over the contralateral orbit. Six gait trials were performed before, during and immediately after each effective/sham tDCS session. Electromyographic activity of leg muscles, as well as spatiotemporal (e.g. gait speed) and kinematic (e.g. peak knee flexion and ankle dorsiflexion in the swing phase of gait) gait parameters were recorded. Genotyping for the brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) Val66Met polymorphism was undertaken since this gene may influence motor skill learning and the effects of tDCS. No significant effects of a-tDCS on gait parameters were found either for the total group or for the Val66Met (N=10) and Val66Val (N=14) subgroups. A single session of a-tDCS delivered to the leg motor cortex did not immediately improve gait parameters in individuals with chronic stroke, regardless of their BDNF genotype.

Gait analysis with the Kinect v2: normative study with healthy individuals and comprehensive study of its sensitivity, validity, and reliability in individuals with stroke

BackgroundGait is usually assessed by clinical tests, which may have poor accuracy and be biased, or instrumented systems, which potentially solve these limitations at the cost of being time-consuming and expensive. The different versions of the Microsoft Kinect have enabled human motion tracking without using wearable sensors at a low-cost and with acceptable reliability. This study aims: First, to determine the sensitivity of an open-access Kinect v2-based gait analysis system to motor disability and aging; Second, to determine its concurrent validity with standardized clinical tests in individuals with stroke; Third, to quantify its inter and intra-rater reliability, standard error of measurement, minimal detectable change; And, finally, to investigate its ability to identify fall risk after stroke.MethodsThe most widely used spatiotemporal and kinematic gait parameters of 82 individuals post-stroke and 355 healthy subjects were estimated with the Kinect v2-based system. In addition, participants with stroke were assessed with the Dynamic Gait Index, the 1-min Walking Test, and the 10-m Walking Test.ResultsThe system successfully characterized the performance of both groups. Significant concurrent validity with correlations of variable strength was detected between all clinical tests and gait measures. Excellent inter and intra-rater reliability was evidenced for almost all measures. Minimal detectable change was variable, with poorer results for kinematic parameters. Almost all gait parameters proved to identify fall risk.ConclusionsResults suggest that although its limited sensitivity to kinematic parameters, the Kinect v2-based gait analysis could be used as a low-cost alternative to laboratory-grade systems to complement gait assessment in clinical settings.

Does gait kinematic parameters change as functional outcome scales in total hip arthroplasty subjects after rehabilitation?

Does gait kinematic parameters change as functional outcome scales in total hip arthroplasty subjects after rehabilitation?

The difference of gait characteristic according to the variety of dual tasks in young healthy adults.

Walking in daily life is often accompanied by an attention-demanding task, which requires a different attentional load and external environments. Therefore, various gaits require complex and systematic interactions between several nervous systems, such as sensory association, cognitive functions, and the musculoskeletal system. Dual-task conditions during gait can affect the interaction between cognitive processing and motor behavior. This study investigated the effect of two types of cognitive dual tasks and one type of manual dual task (MDT) on kinematic and spatiotemporal parameters of gait in young healthy adults. We recruited 30 healthy young adults in this study. All participants performed normal gait, and two types of cognitive tasks (subtraction dual task, SDT; and working memory dual task, WMDT) and MDT (carrying a cup filled with water) during gait. This study assessed kinematic data during the stance and swing phases and spatiotemporal parameters. MDT gait showed a significant decrement of hip-joint movement during the stance phase compared to the normal gait (p < 0.05). Stride velocity significantly decreased during SDT and WMDT gait compared with the normal gait (p < 0.05). MDT gait showed significant decrement of all spatiotemporal parameters of gait compared with normal gait (p < 0.05). We reported that MDT gait can induce decreased hip-joint motion during the stance phase and reduced all spatiotemporal parameters to maintain balance and reduce the risk of falling. Therefore, motor dual tasks while walking would be useful as an intervention strategy to rehabilitate or train people at risk for falling.

Gait analysis in patients after bilateral versus unilateral total hip arthroplasty

BackgroundGait abnormalities were reported in patients after total hip arthroplasty (THA). One-stage bilateral THA was introduced for bilateral hip pathologies, showing similar clinical and surgical outcome to unilateral procedure. However, no studies analyze the gait features after bilateral THA surgery compared to unilateral THA. Research questionAre there differences in gait characteristics between bilateral and unilateral THA patients and are there differences between these cases and asymptomatic age-matched healthy subjects? MethodsIn this prospective observational study, thirty-five patients with bilateral (n = 18) or unilateral THA (n = 17) and twenty asymptomatic age-matched volunteers were studied. Participants underwent three-dimensional gait analysisin order to detect gait spatial-temporal and kinematic (Gait Variable Score - GVS) parameters. Mobility (Timed Up and Go - TUG), fear of movement (Tampa Scale of Kinesiophobia - TSK) and pain during walking (Numeric Rating Scale - NRS) were also assessed. Patients were evaluated the day before surgery and at seven days, whereas healthy subjects underwent a single evaluation. ANOVA was used to assess differences between the three groups at each time-point and within-group differences in bilateral and unilateral groups. ResultsAt baseline, no differences between the two groups of patients were found. As expected, their gait spatial-temporal and kinematic parameters and functional variables were impaired with respect to healthy subjects, both before and after surgery. After surgery, GVS Pelvic-TILT closer to normative values, longer stance and shorter swing phases were found in bilateral cases compared to unilateral patients. Moreover, a higher NRS score was found in bilateral patients, whereas TUG and TSK revealed no differences between the two groups of patients. SignificanceThe current findings, focusing on short-term effectiveness of bilateral THA, could assist physiotherapists in selecting the best ambulation training and an appropriate rehabilitation approach immediately after surgery.

Similarities and Differences of Gait Patterns in Women and Men With Parkinson Disease With Mild Disability

ObjectiveThis study aimed to quantitatively investigate the existence of differences in spatiotemporal and kinematic parameters of gait in men and women with Parkinson disease (PD) using computerized 3-dimensional gait analysis. DesignRetrospective cohort study. SettingLaboratory of Biomechanics. ParticipantsIndividuals with PD (N=35; 17 female, 18 male) of mean age 70.7 years characterized by mild disability (Hoehn and Yahr ≤2.5) who were tested in On medication state approximately 60 to 90 minutes after intake of the usual morning Levodopa dose. InterventionNot applicable. Main Outcome MeasuresSpatiotemporal parameters of gait (speed, stride length, cadence, step width, duration of stance, swing, double support phases) and kinematics of hip, knee, and ankle joints in the sagittal plane. ResultsMen and women exhibit similar spatiotemporal parameters, except for step width (wider in men). In contrast, relevant differences were found in terms of ankle kinematics. In particular, women presented increased ankle dorsiflexion through all the stance phase and mid to late swing phase, and reduced plantarflexion at the stance-swing phase transition. ConclusionsGait patterns of men and women with PD with mild disability are similar in terms of spatiotemporal parameters but characterized by marked differences regarding the ankle kinematics on the sagittal plane. The findings of the present study support the concept that investigations seeking to clarify the complex pathophysiology of PD-related gait disturbances should consider the role played by an individual's sex, thereby achieving more effective designing of physical and rehabilitative treatments.