The Impact of Different Periods of Walking Experience on Kinematic Gait Parameters in Toddlers

Marta Gimunová, Martin Sebera, Michal Bozděch, Kateřina Kolářová, Tomáš Vodička and Martin Zvonař
Additional contact information
Marta Gimunová: Department of Kinesiology, Faculty of Sports Studies, Masaryk University, 62500 Brno, Czech Republic
Martin Sebera: Department of Kinesiology, Faculty of Sports Studies, Masaryk University, 62500 Brno, Czech Republic
Michal Bozděch: Department of Kinesiology, Faculty of Sports Studies, Masaryk University, 62500 Brno, Czech Republic
Kateřina Kolářová: University Sport Centre, Faculty of Sports Studies, Masaryk University, 62500 Brno, Czech Republic
Tomáš Vodička: Department of Kinesiology, Faculty of Sports Studies, Masaryk University, 62500 Brno, Czech Republic
Martin Zvonař: Department of Kinesiology, Faculty of Sports Studies, Masaryk University, 62500 Brno, Czech Republic

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 19, issue 1, 1-7

Abstract: This study aimed to analyse the kinematic differences in gait between three groups of toddlers who differed in their weeks of independent walking (IW) experience, but not in anthropometrical characteristics, to determine the relationship between walking experience without the side effect of morphological differences on gait parameters. Twenty-six toddlers participated in this study. Depending on the week of their IW, toddlers were divided into three groups: Group 1 (1–5 weeks of IW), Group 2 (6–10 weeks of IW), and Group 3 (11–15 weeks of IW). Each toddler walked barefooted over a 2-m long pathway, and 3D kinematic data were obtained. A decrease in the upper limb position, hip flexion, and step width, i.e., changes towards the adult gait pattern, were observed in Group 3. Less experienced walkers exhibited a wider step width despite no statistically significant difference in body mass and height between groups. Results of this study show no statistically significant difference in step length between groups, suggesting that step length is more related to height than to the walking experience. The increased step length in more experienced walkers reported in previous studies may therefore be a result of different heights and not walking experience.

Keywords: gait; children; motor development; temporal-spatial parameters; kinematic analysis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/1/58/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/1/58/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2021:i:1:p:58-:d:708211

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().