Physical Therapy Commons^™

Transitioning From The Level Surface To Stairs In Children With And Without Down Syndrome: Motor Strategy And Anticipatory Locomotor Adjustments, Huaqing Liang, Xiang Ke, Jianhua Wu

Physical Therapy Faculty Research

Background: Children with Down syndrome (DS) show underdeveloped motor strategy and anticipatory locomotor adjustments (ALA) before crossing an obstacle. Stairs presents another important setting to study environment navigation and motor adaptation. Inclusion of external ankle load is often used to perturb the stability of a system and observe the emergence of new patterns.

Research question: How do stair height and external ankle load affect motor strategy and ALA in 5-to-11-year-old children with typical development (TD) and with DS when approaching the stairs?

Methods: Fourteen children with DS and 14 age- and sex-matched children with TD participated in the study. They …

Walking Pattern In Children With And Without Down Syndrome Via A Force-Driven Harmonic Oscillator Model, Jianhua Wu, Matthew Beerse, Toyin Ajisafe, Huaqing Liang

Physical Therapy Faculty Research

Children with Down syndrome (DS) display poorer kinematic and kinetic patterns of walking than typically developing ( TD) children. However, little is known on neuromuscular control in children with DS during locomotion. A force driven harmonic oscillator (FDHO) model sheds light on general muscular activation with respect to the gravitational load of the thigh-shank-foot system. The K/G ratio derived from this model represents a scaling between the elastic restoring torque from muscles and soft tissues and the gravitational torque from the weight of the leg during walking. The K/G ratio has shown different muscular function in infant walkers and children …

Children Display Adult-Like Kinetic Pattern In The Time Domain But Not In The Frequency Domain While Walking With Ankle Load, Jianhua Wu, Toyin Ajisafe, Matthew Beerse, Huaqing Liang

Physical Therapy Faculty Research

While external load is added during locomotion, humans increase the activation of extensors during stance and suppress the initiation of flexors during swing. External load at the ankles, rather than on the waist or thigh, elicits higher activities from ankle extensors, and increases stride length and decreases cadence in adults. Spatiotemporal and kinematic patterns become adult-like in children aged 5-8 years. However, little is known if children show adult like kinetic patterns while walking with external load This study aimed to investigate differences in kinetic patterns between children and adults while walking with external ankle load using both time and …