Department of Mechanical Engineering, Politecnico di Milano, 20133 Milano, Italy.
Department of Electronics, Information of Bioengineering, Politecnico di Milano, 20133 Milano, Italy.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2023 Feb 4;20(4):2769. doi: 10.3390/ijerph20042769.
The primary aim of this study was to assess how different conformations of the foot in individuals with Down syndrome affected the CoP during walking, and the secondary aim was to evaluate the effect of an excess of mass in young adults and children with Down syndrome and flat foot. The greater investigation of these aspects will allow for more targeted rehabilitation treatments to improve a patient's quality of life.
The tests were carried out on 217 subjects with Down syndrome, 65 children and 152 young adults, and on 30 healthy individuals, 19 children and 11 young adults. All subjects underwent gait analysis, and the group with Down syndrome was also assessed with baropodometric tests to evaluate foot morphology.
The statistical analysis showed that within both the young adult and child groups, the CoP pattern in the anterior-posterior direction reflected a difficulty in proceeding in the walking direction compensated by a medio-lateral swing. The gait of children with Down syndrome was more impaired than that of young adults. In both young adults and children, a higher severity of impairment was found in overweight and obese female individuals.
These results suggest that the sensory deficits and the development of hypotonic muscles and lax ligaments of the syndrome lead to morphological alterations of the foot that, combined with the physical characteristics of short stature and obesity, negatively impact the CoP pattern of people with Down syndrome during walking.
本研究的主要目的是评估唐氏综合征患者足部的不同姿势在行走时如何影响重心（CoP），次要目的是评估超重对唐氏综合征青少年和儿童扁平足的影响。对这些方面进行更深入的研究将有助于制定更有针对性的康复治疗方案，提高患者的生活质量。
本研究共纳入 217 名唐氏综合征患者（65 名儿童和 152 名青少年）、30 名健康个体（19 名儿童和 11 名青少年）。所有受试者均接受步态分析，唐氏综合征组还接受足底压力测试以评估足部形态。
统计分析显示，在青少年和儿童组中，CoP 在前后方向上的模式反映了在行走方向上前进的困难，通过中-侧摆动进行补偿。唐氏综合征儿童的步态较青少年更差。在青少年和儿童中，超重和肥胖的女性个体的损伤程度更高。
这些结果表明，唐氏综合征患者的感觉缺陷以及肌肉张力减退和韧带松弛的发展导致足部形态发生改变，加上身材矮小和肥胖的身体特征，对唐氏综合征患者行走时的 CoP 模式产生负面影响。
