Study finds footwear affects gait in children, but maturity does not

[Guest guest]

Study finds footwear affects gait in children, but maturity does not

http://lowerextremityreview.com/news/in-the-moment-foot-care-2#more-1451

Young children's gait differs significantly from that of adults even through age

13, but is significantly altered by footwear, according to research from the

University of Melbourne.

Investigators analyzed 898 children between the ages of five and 13 while

walking either barefoot or wearing athletic shoes, and compared the children's

gait to that of 82 young adult subjects walking under the same conditions.

Compared to the children, the adults walked with significantly reduced single

support time, increased double support time, and increased stance duration.

Although non-normalized measures of speed, step and stride length, support base

and foot angle increased with age in the child subjects while cadence was

reduced, when normalized those measures did not change significantly with age.

Across all subjects, shoes increased walking speed, step length, stride length,

and base of support but decreased foot angle and cadence. In terms of temporal

variables, shoes also increased double support and stance duration while

decreasing single support time.

The findings were published in the November issue of Gait & Posture.