Rehabilitation and Therapy Commons^™

Variability Of Spatiotemporal Gait Parameters In Children With And Without Down Syndrome During Treadmill Walking, Matthew Beerse, Gena Henderson, Huaqing Liang, Toyin Ajisafe, Jianhua Wu

Physical Therapy Faculty Research

Methods: Thirteen children with DS (aged 7–10 years) and thirteen age- and sex-matched typically developing (TD) children participated in this study. Subjects completed two bouts of 60-second treadmill walking at two different speeds (slow and fast) and two load conditions (no load and ankle load equaling to 2% bodyweight at each side). Kinematic data was captured using a Vicon motion capture system. Mean and coefficient of variance of spatiotemporal gait variables were calculated and compared between children with and without DS.

Results and significance: Across all conditions, the DS group took shorter and wider steps than the TD group, but …

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 …

Locomotor Adjustments During Stair Ascent In Children With Down Syndrome: Comparison Between Walking And Crawling Strategies, Huaqing Liang, Jianhua Wu

Physical Therapy Faculty Research

Stair negotiation provides an important yet different paradigm to study environment navigation. As one has constantly move himself up while adjusting step length and foot placement due to the stair constraints, this paradigm is ideal to study motor strategy and adaptation in children with and without disabilities. Down syndrome (DS) is the most common genetic condition and causes significant delays in motor and cognitive development. Children with DS show poor postural control and less efficient gait patterns. When negotiating obstacles, they often select a more conservative strategy (i.e. crawling instead of walking). This study aimed to examine motor strategy and …

Transitioning From Level Surface To Stairs In Children With And Without Down Syndrome: Locomotor Adjustments During Stair Ascent, Huaqing Liang, Xiang Ke, Jianjia Wu

Physical Therapy Faculty Research

Background: Children with Down syndrome (DS) often show underdeveloped motor ability and adaptation. Stair ascent is a common task to examine locomotor function and 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 locomotor adjustments in 5-to-11-year-old children with typical development (TD) and with DS during stair ascent?

Methods: Fourteen children with DS and 14 age- and sex-matched children with TD participated in this study. They walked along a 5-m walkway and ascended 3-step staircases of different heights …

Motor Strategy And Locomotor Adjustments In Children With And Without Down Syndrome While Negotiating Stairs, Huaqing Liang, Xiang Ke, Jianhua Wu

Physical Therapy Faculty Research

Children with Down Syndrome (DS) often show impaired motor control, and walk with a slower speed and a shorter step length than typically developing (TD) children. When negotiating an obstacle, children with DS often stop for a longer duration, choose a more conservative crawling strategy and display a smaller toe clearance than their TD peers.

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 …

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 …