Nebraska Biomechanics Core Facility, University of Nebraska at Omaha, 6001 Dodge Street, Omaha, NE 68182-0216, USA.
J Neuroeng Rehabil. 2012 Feb 3;9:8. doi: 10.1186/1743-0003-9-8.
Wearing a harness during treadmill walking ensures the subject's safety and is common practice in biomedical engineering research. However, the extent to which such practice influences gait is unknown. This study investigated harness-related changes in gait patterns, as evaluated from lower extremity kinematics during treadmill walking.
Healthy subjects (n = 10) walked on a treadmill at their preferred speed for 3 minutes with and without wearing a harness (LiteGait®, Mobility Research, Inc.). In the former condition, no weight support was provided to the subjects. Lower extremity kinematics was assessed in the sagittal plane from the mean (meanRoM), standard deviation (SDRoM) and coefficient of variation (CoVRoM) of the hip, knee, and ankle ranges of motion (RoM), as well as from the sample entropy (SampEn) and the largest Lyapunov exponent (LyE) of the joints' angles. Wearing the harness increased the meanRoM of the hip, the SDRoM and the CoVRoM of the knee, and the SampEn and the LyE of the ankle. In particular, the harness effect sizes for both the SampEn and the LyE of the ankle were large, likely reflecting a meaningful decline in the neuromuscular stabilizing control of this joint.
Wearing a harness during treadmill walking marginally influences lower extremity kinematics, resulting in more or less subtle changes in certain kinematic variables. However, in cases where differences in gait patterns would be expressed through modifications in these variables, having subjects walk with a harness may mask or reinforce such differences.
在跑步机上行走时佩戴吊带可确保受试者的安全，这在生物医学工程研究中是常见做法。然而，这种做法对步态的影响程度尚不清楚。本研究通过跑步机行走时下肢运动学评估了吊带相关的步态模式变化。
健康受试者（n=10）在跑步机上以自己喜欢的速度行走 3 分钟，其间分别佩戴和不佩戴吊带（LiteGait®，Mobility Research，Inc.）。在前一种情况下，吊带不对受试者提供任何重量支撑。在矢状面评估下肢运动学，通过髋关节、膝关节和踝关节运动范围（RoM）的平均值（meanRoM）、标准偏差（SDRoM）和变异系数（CoVRoM），以及关节角度的样本熵（SampEn）和最大 Lyapunov 指数（LyE）进行评估。佩戴吊带增加了髋关节的 meanRoM、膝关节的 SDRoM 和 CoVRoM，以及踝关节的 SampEn 和 LyE。特别是，踝关节的 SampEn 和 LyE 的吊带效应大小都很大，可能反映出该关节的神经肌肉稳定控制能力明显下降。
在跑步机上行走时佩戴吊带会轻微影响下肢运动学，导致某些运动学变量或多或少发生细微变化。然而，在步态模式差异会通过这些变量的改变来表达的情况下，让受试者佩戴吊带可能会掩盖或强化这种差异。
