Stopping Walking

Do you work with children who have difficulty stopping when they are walking?  Have you ever compared motor responses between planned and unplanned stopping when walking?  Recent research was published in Gait and Posture using kinematic and kinetic data to compare walking, planned and unplanned stopping with 15 healthy children ages 11-17 years old.

During unplanned stopping the following results were recorded:

• hip/knee extension or hip/knee flexion strategy was used     
• the peak magnitudes of peak hip extension and peak knee flexion were significantly greater
• the peak plantar flexion moment was significantly smaller    

The researchers concluded that the ability to create sufficient joint moments in a short period of time is essential to be able to stop quickly and safely suggesting that possible treatments should focus on facilitating appropriate strength, power, and range of motion.

Reference:   Sarah Trager Ridge, John Henley, Kurt Manal, Freeman Miller, et al. Kinematic and kinetic analysis of planned and unplanned gait termination in children. Article in press for Gait and Posture. DOI: 10.1016/j.gaitpost.2012.06.030