Department of Physiotherapy, The University of Hong Kong-Shenzhen Hospital, Shenzhen, China.
Department of Orthopaedics and Traumatology, The University of Hong Kong-Shenzhen Hospital, Shenzhen, China.
BMC Musculoskelet Disord. 2022 Jun 29;23(1):623. doi: 10.1186/s12891-022-05577-2.
The change of gait kinematics and kinetics along aging were reported to indicate age-related gait patterns. However, few studies focus on non-age-related gait analysis. This study aims to explore the non-age-related gait kinematics and kinetics by comparing gait analysis outcomes among the healthy elderly and young subjects.
Gait analysis at self-paced was conducted on 12 healthy young subjects and 8 healthy elderly subjects. Kinematic and kinetic features of ankle, knee and hip joints were analyzed and compared in two groups. The degree of variation between the young and elderly in each kinematic or kinetic feature was calculated from pattern distance and percentage of significant difference. The k-means clustering and Elbow Method were applied to select and validate non-age-related features. The average waveforms with standard deviation were plotted for the comparison of the results.
A total of five kinematic and five kinetic features were analyzed on ankle, knee and hip joints in healthy young and elderly groups. The degrees of variation in ankle moment, knee angle, hip flexion angle, and hip adduction moment were 0.1074, 0.1593, 0.1407, and 0.1593, respectively. The turning point was where the k value equals two. The clustering centers were 0.1417 and 0.3691, and the two critical values closest to the cutoff were 0.1593 and 0.3037. The average waveforms of the kinematic or kinetic features mentioned above were highly overlapped with a minor standard deviation between the healthy young and elderly but showed larger variations between the healthy and abnormal.
The cluster with a minor degree of variation in kinematic and kinetic features between the young and elderly were identified as non-age-related, including ankle moment, knee angle, hip flexion angle, and hip adduction moment. Non-age-related gait kinematics and kinetics are essential indicators for gait with normal function, which is essential in the evaluation of mobility and functional ability of the elderly, and data fusion of the assistant device.
据报道，步态运动学和动力学随年龄的变化表明与年龄相关的步态模式。然而，很少有研究关注与年龄无关的步态分析。本研究旨在通过比较健康老年人和年轻人的步态分析结果，探讨与年龄无关的步态运动学和动力学。
对 12 名健康年轻人和 8 名健康老年人进行了自我 paced 步态分析。分析比较了两组踝关节、膝关节和髋关节的运动学和动力学特征。通过模式距离和显著性差异百分比计算年轻人和老年人在每个运动学或动力学特征中的变化程度。采用 K 均值聚类和肘部法选择和验证与年龄无关的特征。绘制平均波型和标准差的图形进行结果比较。
在健康年轻人和老年人组中，共分析了踝关节、膝关节和髋关节的五个运动学和五个动力学特征。踝关节力矩、膝关节角度、髋关节屈曲角度和髋关节内收力矩的变化程度分别为 0.1074、0.1593、0.1407 和 0.1593。拐点是 K 值等于 2 的位置。聚类中心为 0.1417 和 0.3691，最接近截止值的两个临界值为 0.1593 和 0.3037。上述运动学或动力学特征的平均波型高度重叠，健康年轻人和老年人之间的标准差较小，但健康者与异常者之间的差异较大。
年轻人和老年人之间运动学和动力学特征变化程度较小的聚类被确定为与年龄无关，包括踝关节力矩、膝关节角度、髋关节屈曲角度和髋关节内收力矩。与年龄无关的步态运动学和动力学是步态正常功能的重要指标，对评估老年人的活动能力和功能能力以及辅助设备的数据融合至关重要。
