Hasan Che Zawiyah Che, Jailani Rozita, Md Tahir Nooritawati, Ilias Suryani
Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi MARA, 40450 Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia.
Res Dev Disabil. 2017 Jul;66:55-63. doi: 10.1016/j.ridd.2017.02.015. Epub 2017 Mar 9.
Minimal information is known about the three-dimensional (3D) ground reaction forces (GRF) on the gait patterns of individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). The purpose of this study was to investigate whether the 3D GRF components differ significantly between children with ASD and the peer controls. 15 children with ASD and 25 typically developing (TD) children had participated in the study. Two force plates were used to measure the 3D GRF data during walking. Time-series parameterization techniques were employed to extract 17 discrete features from the 3D GRF waveforms. By using independent t-test and Mann-Whitney U test, significant differences (p<0.05) between the ASD and TD groups were found for four GRF features. Children with ASD demonstrated higher maximum braking force, lower relative time to maximum braking force, and lower relative time to zero force during mid-stance. Children with ASD were also found to have reduced the second peak of vertical GRF in the terminal stance. These major findings suggest that children with ASD experience significant difficulties in supporting their body weight and endure gait instability during the stance phase. The findings of this research are useful to both clinicians and parents who wish to provide these children with appropriate treatments and rehabilitation programs.
关于三维（3D）地面反作用力（GRF）对自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）个体步态模式的影响，目前所知甚少。本研究的目的是调查ASD儿童与同龄对照组之间的3D GRF分量是否存在显著差异。15名ASD儿童和25名发育正常（TD）的儿童参与了该研究。使用两个测力台在行走过程中测量3D GRF数据。采用时间序列参数化技术从3D GRF波形中提取17个离散特征。通过独立样本t检验和曼-惠特尼U检验，发现ASD组和TD组之间在四个GRF特征上存在显著差异（p<0.05）。ASD儿童在支撑体重时表现出更高的最大制动力、更低的达到最大制动力的相对时间以及更低的支撑中期达到零力的相对时间。还发现ASD儿童在支撑末期垂直GRF的第二个峰值降低。这些主要发现表明，ASD儿童在支撑体重方面存在显著困难，并且在支撑期承受步态不稳定。这项研究的结果对希望为这些儿童提供适当治疗和康复计划的临床医生和家长都很有用。
