Lower limb angular velocity during walking at various speeds.

Abstract

Background: Although it is well established that lower-limb joint angles adapt to walking at various speeds, limited research has examined the changes in joint angular velocity. Understanding joint angular velocity may assist clinical assessment and treatment procedures to incorporate methods that replicate the speed of the lower-limb joints during walking. This study aimed to establish a normative dataset for joint angles and joint angular velocity in a healthy population walking at various gait speeds. Methods: Thirty-six healthy adult participants underwent three-dimensional gait analysis while walking at various speeds. The peak joint angles and angular velocities during important phases of the gait cycle were examined for the hip, knee and ankle. Data were grouped in 0.2m/s increments from a walking speed of 0.4m/s to 1.4m/s to represent the range of walking speeds reported in studies of people with gait impairments. Results: The shape of the gait data was consistent regardless of the walking speed. As walking speed increased, so did the peak joint angles and angular velocities for each joint. The largest angular velocity occurred when the knee joint extended at the terminal swing phase of gait. For the ankle and hip joint, the largest angular velocity occurred during the push-off phase. Conclusion: This study examined how lower limb joint angular velocities change with various walking speeds. This data has the potential to be used to match clinical assessment and treatment methods for common impairments such as muscle strength and spasticity to joint angular velocity during walking.