Carswell Tess M R, Hordacre Brenton G, Klimstra Marc D, Giles Joshua W
Orthopaedic Technologies and Biomechanics Laboratory, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC,Canada.
Department of Rehabilitation, Aged and Extended Care, Flinders University, Adelaide, SA,Australia.
J Appl Biomech. 2022 Nov 15;39(1):1-9. doi: 10.1123/jab.2022-0054. Print 2023 Feb 1.
Research addressing lower limb amputee gait and prosthetic design often focuses on men, despite female lower limb amputees having different risk factors and lower success with their prosthetics overall. It is widely agreed that sex differences exist in able-bodied gait, but research analyzing sex differences in amputee gait is rare. This study compared male and female transtibial amputee gait to ascertain potential sex differences. Forty-five transtibial amputees were asked to walk at their self-selected speed, and spatiotemporal gait data were obtained. Both the mean and variability metric of parameters were analyzed for 10 male and 10 female participants. For all participants, amputated limbs had a shorter stance time, longer swing time, and larger step length. Females had a 10% shorter stance time and 26% larger normalized step and stride length than males. Female participants also walked over 20% faster than male participants. Finally, significant interactions were found in the mean and variability metric of stride velocity, indicating greater variability in women. These findings suggest that sex differences exist in transtibial amputee gait, offering possible explanations for the different comorbidities experienced by female lower limb amputees. These results have major implications for female amputees and for sex-specific research, rehabilitation, and prosthetic design.
尽管女性下肢截肢者有不同的风险因素且总体上使用假肢的成功率较低，但针对下肢截肢者步态和假肢设计的研究通常集中在男性身上。人们普遍认为，健全人的步态存在性别差异，但分析截肢者步态中性别差异的研究却很少。本研究比较了男性和女性经胫骨截肢者的步态，以确定潜在的性别差异。45名经胫骨截肢者被要求以自己选择的速度行走，并获取时空步态数据。对10名男性和10名女性参与者的参数均值和变异性指标进行了分析。对于所有参与者，截肢肢体的站立时间较短，摆动时间较长，步长较大。女性的站立时间比男性短10%，标准化步长和步幅比男性大26%。女性参与者的行走速度也比男性参与者快20%以上。最后，在步幅速度的均值和变异性指标中发现了显著的交互作用，表明女性的变异性更大。这些发现表明经胫骨截肢者的步态存在性别差异，为女性下肢截肢者经历的不同合并症提供了可能的解释。这些结果对女性截肢者以及针对性别的研究、康复和假肢设计具有重要意义。
