Pau Massimiliano, Mandaresu Serena, Pilloni Giuseppina, Porta Micaela, Coghe Giancarlo, Marrosu Maria Giovanna, Cocco Eleonora
Department of Mechanical, Chemical and Materials Engineering, University of Cagliari, Cagliari, Italy.
Department of Mechanical, Chemical and Materials Engineering, University of Cagliari, Cagliari, Italy; Multiple Sclerosis Centre, Department of Medical Sciences and Public Health University of Cagliari, Cagliari, Italy.
Gait Posture. 2017 Oct;58:307-309. doi: 10.1016/j.gaitpost.2017.08.023. Epub 2017 Aug 24.
In people with Multiple Sclerosis (pwMS) with little or no signs of disability, early detection of walking impairments represents a challenging issue, as simple gait metrics (e.g. speed, cadence, stride length, etc.) may not significantly differ from those of healthy individuals. In this study, we aimed to assess the existence of possible differences in spatial-temporal parameters and smoothness of gait measures (assessed through Harmonic Ratio, HR) obtained from trunk accelerations between 50pwMS without disability (Expanded Disability Status Scale score =1) and 50 age-matched healthy controls. The results show no differences in terms of gait velocity, stride length, stance/swing and double support phases duration, while HR in the direction of motion was significantly lower in pwMS (2.92 vs. 3.67, p<0.001), thus indicating a less smooth gait. The study of trunk accelerations through calculation of HR represents a fast, non-intrusive technique that allows early identification of anomalies in gait patterns of pwMS in absence of disability.
在几乎没有或完全没有残疾迹象的多发性硬化症患者（pwMS）中，早期发现步行障碍是一个具有挑战性的问题，因为简单的步态指标（如速度、步频、步幅等）可能与健康个体的指标没有显著差异。在本研究中，我们旨在评估50名无残疾的pwMS患者（扩展残疾状态量表评分为1）和50名年龄匹配的健康对照者之间，从躯干加速度获得的时空参数和步态测量平滑度（通过谐波比，HR评估）是否存在可能的差异。结果显示，在步态速度、步幅、站立/摆动和双支撑阶段持续时间方面没有差异，而pwMS患者在运动方向上的HR显著更低（2.92对3.67，p<0.001），因此表明步态不太平滑。通过计算HR来研究躯干加速度是一种快速、非侵入性的技术，能够在无残疾的pwMS患者中早期识别步态模式异常。
