Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Politecnico di Torino, Italy, Corso Duca degli Abruzzi 24, 10129 Torino, Italy.
Department of Electronics and Telecommunications, Politecnico di Torino, Corso Duca degli Abruzzi 24, 10129 Torino, Italy.
Sensors (Basel). 2019 Sep 28;19(19):4221. doi: 10.3390/s19194221.
Overweight/obesity is a physical condition that affects daily activities, including walking. The main purpose of this study was to identify if there is a relationship between body mass index (BMI) and gait characteristics in young adults. 12 normal weight (NW) and 10 overweight/obese (OW) individuals walked at a self-selected speed along a 14 m indoor path. H-Gait system, combining seven inertial sensors (fixed on pelvis and lower limbs), was used to record gait data. Walking speed, spatio-temporal parameters and joint kinematics in 3D were analyzed. Differences between NW and OW and correlations between BMI and gait parameters were evaluated. Conventional spatio-temporal parameters did not show statistical differences between the two groups or correlations with the BMI. However, significant results were pointed out for the joint kinematics. OW showed greater hip joint angles in frontal and transverse planes, with respect to NW. In the transverse plane, OW showed a greater knee opening angle and a shorter length of knee and ankle trajectories. Correlations were found between BMI and kinematic parameters in the frontal and transverse planes. Despite some phenomena such as soft tissue artifact and kinematics cross-talk, which have to be more deeply assessed, current results show a relationship between BMI and gait characteristics in young adults that should be looked at in osteoarthritis prevention.
超重/肥胖是一种影响日常活动的身体状况，包括行走。本研究的主要目的是确定年轻人的体重指数（BMI）与步态特征之间是否存在关系。12 名正常体重（NW）和 10 名超重/肥胖（OW）个体以自我选择的速度沿着 14 米长的室内路径行走。H-Gait 系统结合了七个惯性传感器（固定在骨盆和下肢），用于记录步态数据。分析了三维行走速度、时空参数和关节运动学。评估了 NW 和 OW 之间的差异以及 BMI 和步态参数之间的相关性。传统的时空参数在两组之间没有显示出统计学差异，也与 BMI 没有相关性。然而，关节运动学的结果却非常显著。OW 在额状面和横断面上的髋关节角度大于 NW。在横断面上，OW 的膝关节开口角度更大，膝关节和踝关节轨迹更短。在额状面和横断面上发现 BMI 与运动学参数之间存在相关性。尽管存在一些现象，如软组织伪影和运动学串扰，需要更深入地评估，但目前的结果表明，BMI 与年轻人的步态特征之间存在关系，这在骨关节炎的预防中值得关注。
