Varying Joint Patterns and Compensatory Strategies Can Lead to the Same Functional Gait Outcomes: A Case Study

TL;DR

This case study reveals that different joint movement strategies can produce similar functional walking outcomes, emphasizing the importance of joint-space analysis for personalized gait assessment and human-robot interaction.

Contribution

It demonstrates the significance of joint-space analysis and individual variability in gait, advocating a shift from task-space to joint-space perspectives in gait analysis.

Findings

Participants used different compensatory strategies to achieve the same gait outcomes.

Gait pattern alterations varied across individuals and conditions.

Symmetric step time and cadence remained invariant despite other gait changes.

Abstract

This paper analyses joint-space walking mechanisms and redundancies in delivering functional gait outcomes. Multiple biomechanical measures are analysed for two healthy male adults who participated in a multi-factorial study and walked during three sessions. Both participants employed varying intra- and inter-personal compensatory strategies (e.g., vaulting, hip hiking) across walking conditions and exhibited notable gait pattern alterations while keeping task-space (functional) gait parameters invariant. They also preferred various levels of asymmetric step length but kept their symmetric step time consistent and cadence-invariant during free walking. The results demonstrate the importance of an individualised approach and the need for a paradigm shift from functional (task-space) to joint-space gait analysis in attending to (a)typical gaits and delivering human-centred human-robot interaction.