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Study design Cross-sectional study. Objective The aim of this study was to map the skin temperature (Tsk) of individuals with SCI and compare able-bodied individuals, and among the groups to demonstrate the effects of differences in the levels of injury (paraplegia and tetraplegia with high and low injuries). Setting Outpatient clinic, Brazil. Methods Individuals with tetraplegia (n = 20), paraplegia (n = 21), and able-bodied (n = 11) individuals were recruited. A noncontact infrared thermometer (IRT) was used to measure three times the Tsk at the forehead, and at the C2 to S2 dermatomes. Core body temperature was measured at the axilla using the IRT and three other clinical thermometers. Results Autonomic regulation is impaired by the injury. A Tsk map was constructed for the three groups. Significant differences in the Tsk of dermatomes were observed when comparing individuals with SCI and the able-bodied at the following dermatomes: C3, C7, T2, T3, T8, T9, L1, L2, L4, and S2. When comparing individuals with tetraplegia and able-bodied individuals, the dermatomes that showed significant differences were C5, C6, C8, T1, T10, L3, and S1. Dermatomes C5-C7, and T5 showed significant differences between individuals with tetraplegia and those with paraplegia. For L5 and S1 in paraplegia significant differences were found when comparing high with low injury. Conclusion A Tsk map on dermatomes in individuals with SCI was implemented, and showed a significant difference between able-bodied. As temperature is a parameter for analyzing autonomic function, the study could benefit rehabilitation by providing baseline values when constructing clinical protocols.

Structural and functional changes in the foot have been associated with age-related changes in gait mechanics, but walking speed may be a confounding factor in this relationship. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of aging and speed on the ankle–foot power output during level walking. The effects of speed and aging on features of the mechanical power and work of the ankle and foot were quantified with a gait analysis of 24 young and 16 older individuals walking at different speeds. We observed gait speed having a significant effect on all the investigated features: peak power and positive and negative work of the ankle, foot, and sum of the ankle and foot (average effect size: 0.64 ± 0.22, from 0.26 to 0.87). We observed age having no effect on these same features (average effect size: 0.23 ± 0.12, from 0.03 to 0.39), with the exception of age’s effect when combined with speed on the negative work of the foot. We performed additional analysis to illustrate how the speed can become a confounding factor to the understanding of the age effect on the gait biomechanics. Based on the influence of gait speed on the mechanical power of the ankle–foot system, it is essential that studies control for the effect of gait speed if there is interest in understanding age-related effects, particularly when studying frail older individuals.

Cross-sectional study.The aim of this study was to map the skin temperature (Tsk) of individuals with SCI and compare able-bodied individuals, and among the groups to demonstrate the effects of differences in the levels of injury (paraplegia and tetraplegia with high and low injuries).Outpatient clinic, Brazil.Individuals with tetraplegia (n = 20), paraplegia (n = 21), and able-bodied (n = 11) individuals were recruited. A noncontact infrared thermometer (IRT) was used to measure three times the Tsk at the forehead, and at the C2 to S2 dermatomes. Core body temperature was measured at the axilla using the IRT and three other clinical thermometers.Autonomic regulation is impaired by the injury. A Tsk map was constructed for the three groups. Significant differences in the Tsk of dermatomes were observed when comparing individuals with SCI and the able-bodied at the following dermatomes: C3, C7, T2, T3, T8, T9, L1, L2, L4, and S2. When comparing individuals with tetraplegia and able-bodied individuals, the dermatomes that showed significant differences were C5, C6, C8, T1, T10, L3, and S1. Dermatomes C5-C7, and T5 showed significant differences between individuals with tetraplegia and those with paraplegia. For L5 and S1 in paraplegia significant differences were found when comparing high with low injury.A Tsk map on dermatomes in individuals with SCI was implemented, and showed a significant difference between able-bodied. As temperature is a parameter for analyzing autonomic function, the study could benefit rehabilitation by providing baseline values when constructing clinical protocols.

Background Understanding the effects of gait speed on biomechanical variables is fundamental for a proper evaluation of alterations in gait, since pathological individuals tend to walk slower than healthy controls. Therefore, the aim of the study was to perform a systematic review of the effects of gait speed on spatiotemporal parameters, joint kinematics, joint kinetics, and ground reaction forces in healthy children, young adults, and older adults. Methods A systematic electronic search was performed on PubMed, Embase, and Web of Science databases to identify studies published between 1980 and 2019. A modified Quality Index was applied to assess methodological quality, and effect sizes with 95% confidence intervals were calculated as the standardized mean differences. For the meta-analyses, a fixed or random effect model and the statistical heterogeneity were calculated using the I2 index. Results Twenty original full-length studies were included in the final analyses with a total of 587 healthy individuals evaluated, of which four studies analyzed the gait pattern of 227 children, 16 studies of 310 young adults, and three studies of 59 older adults. In general, gait speed affected the amplitude of spatiotemporal gait parameters, joint kinematics, joint kinetics, and ground reaction forces with a decrease at slow speeds and increase at fast speeds in relation to the comfortable speed. Specifically, moderate-to-large effect sizes were found for each age group and speed: children (slow, − 3.61 to 0.59; fast, − 1.05 to 2.97), young adults (slow, − 3.56 to 4.06; fast, − 4.28 to 4.38), and older adults (slow, − 1.76 to 0.52; fast, − 0.29 to 1.43). Conclusions This review identified that speed affected the gait patterns of different populations with respect to the amplitude of spatiotemporal parameters, joint kinematics, joint kinetics, and ground reaction forces. Specifically, most of the values analyzed decreased at slower speeds and increased at faster speeds. Therefore, the effects of speed on gait patterns should also be considered when comparing the gait analysis of pathological individuals with normal or control ones. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s13643-019-1063-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Background: Wedged insoles have been used to treat knee pathologies and to prevent injuries. Although they have received much attention for the study of knee injury, the effects of wedges on ankle joint biomechanics are not well understood. This study sought to evaluate the immediate effects of lateral and medial wedges on knee and ankle internal joint loading and center of pressure (CoP) in men during walking.Methods: Twenty-one healthy men walked at 1.4 m/sec in five footwear conditions: neutral, 6° (LW6) and 9° (LW9) lateral wedges, and 6° (MW6) and 9° (MW9) medial wedges. Peak internal knee abduction moments and angular impulses, internal ankle inversion moments and angular impulses, and mediolateral CoP were analyzed. Analysis of variance with post hoc analysis and Pearson correlations were performed to detect differences between conditions.Results: No differences in internal knee joint loading were found between neutral and any of the wedge conditions. However, as the wedge angle increased from medial to lateral, the internal ankle inversion moment (LW6: P = .020; LW9: P < .001; MW6: P = .046; MW9: P < .001) and angular impulse (LW9: P = .012) increased, and the CoP shifted laterally (LW9: P < .001) and medially (MW9: P < .001) compared with the neutral condition.Conclusions: Neither lateral nor medial wedges were effective in altering internal knee joint loading during walking. However, the greater internal ankle inversion moment and angular impulse observed with lateral wedges could lead to a higher risk of ankle injury. Thus, caution should be taken when lateral wedges need to be prescribed.

Background: The Gait Profile Score (GPS) measures the quality of an individual’s walking by calculating the difference between the kinematic pattern and the average walking pattern of healthy individuals. Research questions: The purposes of this study were to quantify the effect of speed on the GPS and to determine whether the prediction of gait patterns at a specific speed would make the GPS outcome insensitive to gait speed in the evaluation of post-stroke individuals. Methods: The GPS was calculated for able-bodied individuals walking at different speeds and for the comparison of post-stroke individuals with able-bodied individuals using the original experimental data (standard GPS) and the predicted gait patterns at a given speed (GPS velocity, GPSv). We employed standard gait analysis for data collection of the subjects. Sixteen participants with a stroke history were recruited for the post-stroke group, and 15 age-matched, able-bodied participants formed the control group. Results: Gait speed significantly affects the GPS and the method to predict the gait patterns at any speed is able to mitigate the effects of gait speed on the GPS. Overall, the gap between the GPS and GPSv values across the post-stroke individuals was small (0.5° on average, range from 0.0° to 1.4°) and not statistically significant. However, there was a significant negative linear relationship in the absolute difference between the GPS and GPSv values for the participants of the post-stroke group with gait speed, indicating that a larger difference between the speeds of the post-stroke participant and the reference dataset resulted in a larger difference between the GPS and GPSv. Significance: The modified version of the GPS, the GPSv, is effective in reducing the impact of gait speed on GPS; however, the observed difference between the two methods was only around 1° for the slowest individuals in comparison to the reference dataset.

This article describes a public data set containing the three-dimensional kinematics of the whole human body and the ground reaction forces (with a dual force platform setup) of subjects who were standing still for 60 s in different conditions, in which the subjects’ vision and the standing surface were manipulated. Twenty-seven young subjects and 22 old subjects were evaluated. The data set comprises a file with metadata plus 1,813 files with the ground reaction force (GRF) and kinematics data for the 49 subjects (three files for each of the 12 trials plus one file for each subject). The file with metadata has information about each subject’s sociocultural, demographic, and health characteristics. The files with the GRF have the data from each force platform and from the resultant GRF (including the center of pressure data). The files with the kinematics contain the three-dimensional positions of 42 markers that were placed on each subject’s body and 73 calculated joint angles. In this text, we illustrate how to access, analyze, and visualize the data set. All the data is available at Figshare (DOI:10.6084/m9.figshare.4525082), and a companion Jupyter Notebook presents programming code to access the data set, generate analyses and other examples. The availability of a public data set on the Internet that contains these measurements and information about how to access and process this data can potentially boost the research on human postural control, increase the reproducibility of studies, and be used for training and education, among other applications.

Background The goals of this study were (1) to present the set of data evaluating running biomechanics (kinematics and kinetics), including data on running habits, demographics, and levels of muscle strength and flexibility made available at Figshare (DOI: 10.6084/m9.figshare.4543435); and (2) to examine the effect of running speed on selected gait-biomechanics variables related to both running injuries and running economy. Methods The lower-extremity kinematics and kinetics data of 28 regular runners were collected using a three-dimensional (3D) motion-capture system and an instrumented treadmill while the subjects ran at 2.5 m/s, 3.5 m/s, and 4.5 m/s wearing standard neutral shoes. Results A dataset comprising raw and processed kinematics and kinetics signals pertaining to this experiment is available in various file formats. In addition, a file of metadata, including demographics, running characteristics, foot-strike patterns, and muscle strength and flexibility measurements is provided. Overall, there was an effect of running speed on most of the gait-biomechanics variables selected for this study. However, the foot-strike patterns were not affected by running speed. Discussion Several applications of this dataset can be anticipated, including testing new methods of data reduction and variable selection; for educational purposes; and answering specific research questions. This last application was exemplified in the study’s second objective.

In light of the wide use of cryotherapy and its potential negative effects on postural stability, little is known about how postural sway is affected, particularly when the whole lower limb is immersed. The purpose of this study was to analyze the influence of cryotherapy on postural sway in healthy males. Twenty-six subjects were randomly assigned into two intervention groups: control (tepid water at ∼26 °C) or ice (cold water at ∼11 °C). Postural sway was measured through the center of pressure (COP) position while they stood on a force plate during bipedal (70 s) and unipedal (40 s) conditions before and after the subjects were immersed in a water tub up to the umbilical level for 20 min. COP standard deviation (SD) and COP velocity were analyzed in the anterior–posterior (AP) and medial–lateral (ML) directions. Statistical analysis showed that in the bipedal condition cryotherapy increased the COP SD and COP velocity in the ML direction. During the unipedal condition, a higher COP velocity in the AP and ML direction s was also reported. Our findings indicate that cryotherapy by immersing the whole lower limb should be used with caution before engaging in challenging postural control activities.

Knee osteoarthritis (OA) is one of the most common degenerative disorders. Recently, it has been proposed that lateral wedged footwear could play a preventative role by reducing the frontal plane knee joint moments during walking. However, these interventions can be uncomfortable, so it is important to determine whether minimal wedging can still have a positive influence. The aim of this study was to test the influence of a 2° full-length lateral wedge on frontal plane knee joint internal moments during walking. It was hypothesized that the lateral wedge would shift the centre of pressure (COP) laterally and decrease the knee abduction moment. Joint kinematics, joint kinetics and the COP trajectory of 15 healthy subjects (seven males and eight females) were obtained when the subjects walked at 1.4 m s−1 with a Control shoe and a Lateral Wedge shoe (2° wedge). The results of this study showed no difference between the Lateral Wedge and the Control shoe condition in the internal peak knee abduction moment a...

In a typical clinical gait analysis, the gait patterns of pathological individuals are commonly compared with the typically faster, comfortable pace of healthy subjects. However, due to potential bias related to gait speed, this comparison may not be valid. Publicly available gait datasets have failed to address this issue. Therefore, the goal of this study was to present a publicly available dataset of 42 healthy volunteers (24 young adults and 18 older adults) who walked both overground and on a treadmill at a range of gait speeds. Their lower-extremity and pelvis kinematics were measured using a three-dimensional (3D) motion-capture system. The external forces during both overground and treadmill walking were collected using force plates and an instrumented treadmill, respectively. The results include both raw and processed kinematic and kinetic data in different file formats: c3d and ASCII files. In addition, a metadata file is provided that contain demographic and anthropometric data and data related to each file in the dataset. All data are available at Figshare (DOI: 10.6084/m9.figshare.5722711). We foresee several applications of this public dataset, including to examine the influences of speed, age, and environment (overground vs. treadmill) on gait biomechanics, to meet educational needs, and, with the inclusion of additional participants, to use as a normative dataset.

The purpose of this study was to identify the influence of cryotherapy on lower extremity running biomechanics. Twenty-six healthy male volunteers were randomised into two intervention groups: cold water (cold water at ~11°C) or tepid water (tepid water at ~26°C). They were required to run at 4.0 ± 0.2 m · s(-1) before and after they underwent water immersion for 20 min. Differences between pre- and post-intervention were used to compare the influence of water intervention during running. Peak joint angles, peak joint moments, peak ground reaction forces (GRF) and contact time (CT) were calculated using three-dimensional gait analysis. Independent t-tests were applied with a significant alpha level set at 0.05. Decreased peak propulsive and vertical GRF, decreased plantarflexion moments, increased hip flexion angle and longer CT were observed following cold water immersion. Although cold water immersion (cryotherapy) affected the running movement, none of the alterations have been related to running biomechanical patterns associated with injuries. Therefore, our results indicated that cold water immersion appears safe prior to running activities.

OBJECTIVE: Patellofemoral pain syndrome (PFPS), the most common running injury, has been associated with increased internal knee abduction angular impulses (KAAI). Wedged footwear can reduce these impulses during walking, but their effects during running are not well understood. The purpose of this study was to identify the effects of wedged footwear on KAAIs and describe the mechanism by which wedged footwear alters KAAIs during running. DESIGN: Controlled laboratory study. SETTING: Motion analysis laboratory. PARTICIPANTS: Nine healthy male subjects. INTERVENTIONS: Participants ran at a speed of 4 m/s with 7 different footwear conditions (3-, 6-, and 9-mm lateral wedges; 3-, 6-, and 9-mm medial wedges; neutral). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Knee abduction angular impulses and 8 predictor variables were measured and compared by 1-way repeated measures analysis of variance (α = 0.05) with Bonferroni-adjusted 2-tailed paired t tests for post hoc analysis (α = 0.002). Correlation (α = 0.05) was used to determine the relationship between the mediolateral center of pressure to ankle joint center (COP-AJC) lever arm length and KAAIs. RESULTS: Laterally wedged conditions produced significantly lower KAAIs (P = 0.001) than medial wedge conditions. Peak knee abduction moments decreased (P = 0.001), whereas ankle inversion moments (P = 0.041) and the COP-AJC lever arms increased (P < 0.001) as wedges progressed from medial to lateral. KAAIs were negatively correlated with COP-AJC lever arm length (r = -0.50, P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: KAAIs are reduced with laterally wedged footwear because of lateral shifts in the center of pressure beneath the foot, which then increases ankle inversion moments and decreases peak knee abduction moments. Laterally wedged footwear may therefore offer greater relief to runners with PFPS than medially wedged footwear by reducing KAAIs.

Unstable shoes have been marketed towards females with claims of providing lower extremity toning benefits during walking. A few studies have reported changes in physiological and biomechanical mea...