Affiliations: [a] Department of Sport Injuries and Corrective Exercise, Faculty of Sports Sciences, University of Isfahan, Isfahan, Iran | [b] Muscoloskeletal Research Center, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran | [c] Rehabilitation Sciences Research Center, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran
Correspondence:
[*]
Corresponding author: Mohammad Taghi Karimi, Muscoloskeletal Research Center, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran. Tel.: +98 3137925074; Fax: +98 3136687270; E-mail:[email protected]
Abstract: BACKGROUND: Subjects with Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) should use
various assistive devices to stand and walk. Unfortunately they suffer from
slow walking speed, high energy consumption, and too much force applied on
upper limb while walking. The aim of this study was to determine the gap
between the gait performance of SCI and normal subjects to conclude how the
performance of SCI can be improved. METHOD: Three groups of SCI walked with orthosis, SCI walked
without orthosis, and normal subjects were recruited in this study. The
normal subjects also walked with the same orthoses as SCI subjects. Some
parameters such as ranges of motion of hip, knee and spatiotemporal gait
parameters were evaluated by use of Qualysis motion analysis system. The
difference between the gait parameters of three groups were evaluated by use
of two sample t test. RESULTS: The mean values of hip joint range of motion of normal
subjects while walking with and without orthosis were 48.3 ± 2.5 and
18.5 ± 8.8 degrees, respectively (p-value = 0.00). There was a
significant difference between walking speed of normal subjects with and
without orthosis. The walking speed of SCI subject with and without orthosis
differed significantly. CONCLUSION: Although use of orthosis enable SCI subjects to stand
and walk, but has some restrictions. As use of orthosis decreased the
abilities of normal subjects it can be concluded that more attention should
be done on design of orthosis and style of walking.
Keywords: Spinal cord injury, kinematic, gait, style of walking, orthosis
