Department of Mechanical, Chemical and Materials Engineering, University of Cagliari, 09123 Cagliari, Italy.
Orthopaedic Rehabilitation Unit and Clinical Lab for Gait Analysis and Posture, Istituto Auxologico Italiano IRCCS, San Giuseppe Hospital, 28824 Verbania, Italy.
Sensors (Basel). 2021 Sep 6;21(17):5980. doi: 10.3390/s21175980.
The main purpose of this study is to characterize lower limb joint kinematics during gait in obese individuals by analyzing inter-limb symmetry and angular trends of lower limb joints during walking. To this purpose, 26 obese individuals (mean age 28.5 years) and 26 normal-weight age- and sex-matched were tested using 3D gait analysis. Raw kinematic data were processed to derive joint-specific angle trends and angle-angle diagrams (synchronized cyclograms) which were characterized in terms of area, orientation and trend symmetry parameters. The results show that obese individuals exhibit a kinematic pattern which significantly differs from those of normal weight especially in the stance phase. In terms of inter-limb symmetry, higher values were found in obese individuals for all the considered parameters, even though the statistical significance was detected only in the case of trend symmetry index at ankle joint. The described alterations of gait kinematics in the obese individuals and especially the results on gait asymmetry are important, because the cyclic uneven movement repeated for hours daily can involve asymmetrical spine loading and cause lumbar pain and could be dangerous for overweight individuals.
本研究的主要目的是通过分析肥胖个体行走时下肢关节的角度趋势和肢体对称性，来描述肥胖个体在步态中的下肢关节运动学特征。为此，我们使用三维步态分析对 26 名肥胖个体（平均年龄 28.5 岁）和 26 名年龄和性别匹配的正常体重个体进行了测试。原始运动学数据经过处理后得到关节特定的角度趋势和角度-角度图（同步循环图），并通过面积、方向和趋势对称性参数进行了特征描述。结果表明，肥胖个体的运动学模式与正常体重个体明显不同，尤其是在站立阶段。在肢体对称性方面，所有考虑的参数中，肥胖个体的数值都较高，尽管仅在踝关节趋势对称性指数的情况下检测到了统计学意义。肥胖个体步态运动学的这些变化，尤其是步态不对称的结果非常重要，因为每天重复数小时的这种周期性的非均匀运动可能会导致脊柱受力不对称，引起腰痛，对超重个体来说可能是危险的。
