Development of gait motor control: what happens after a sudden increase in height during adolescence

NewsBot · May 21, 2016

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Development of gait motor control: what happens after a sudden increase in height during adolescence?
Maria Cristina Bisi and Rita Stagni
BioMedical Engineering OnLine201615:47

Background
Basic understanding of motor control and its processes is a topic of well-known high relevance. During adolescence walking is theoretically a well-achieved fundamental skill, having reached a mature manifestation; on the other hand, adolescence is marked by a period of accelerated increases in both height and weight, referred as growth spurt. Thus, this period was chosen as a controlled and natural environment for partially isolating one of the factors influencing motor development (segment growth). The aim of the study was to compare gait performance of growing and not growing male adolescents during walking in single task (ST) and dual task (DT), in order to study which are the modifications that motor control handles when encountering a sudden change in segment length.

Methods
19 adolescents were selected as growing adolescents (they showed a height increase greater than 3 cm in 3 months). A group of BMI-matched peers were selected as not growing adolescents (they showed a height increase lower than 1 cm in 3 months). Measures of acceleration of the trunk (L5 level) were collected using one tri-axial wireless inertial sensor. The participants were asked to walk at self-selected speed back and forth four times in a 10 m long corridor in ST and DT conditions. The following characteristics of gait performance were evaluated using different indices: variability, smoothness, regularity, complexity and local dynamic stability. An unpaired t-test was performed on the two groups for each method.

Results
Different indices followed the hypothesized trend in the two groups, even if differences were not always statistically significant: not growing adolescents showed a lower variability and complexity of gait and a higher smoothness/rhythm. Stability results showed a similarly stable gait pattern (or even higher in DT) in the growing adolescents when compared to their not growing peers.

Conclusions
The findings of the present work suggest that growth spurt affects gait variability, smoothness and regularity but not gait stability. It could be argued that sudden peripheral changes of the body affect the manifestation and the performance of gait, but, on the other hand, gait control is able to handle these modifications, maintaining the stability of the system.
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NewsBot · May 21, 2016

Blog post on above study:
How does a growth spurt affect gait?

NewsBot · Aug 25, 2016

Quantifying Intra-limb Coordination in Walking of Healthy Children Aged Three to Six
Mingyu Hu, B.Sc, Nan Zhou, MSc., Bo Xu (Assoc. Prof.), Wuyong Chen (Prof.), Jianxin Wu, Bsc., Jin Zhou, Ph.D.
Gait and Posture; Article in Press

Highlights
?Intra-limb coordination in walking of healthy children was quantified.
?Similar portraits of PA and CRP were found for knees and ankles from ages 3?6.
?SD of PA and CRP in the knees and ankles were consistent with the age increasing.
?No inter-age significant differences were recorded in each key gait event.
?Gender differences exist before the age of 6 in lower limb coordination.
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The aim of this study was first to quantify intra-limb coordination and then to explore the gender differences of 180 healthy children aged 3 to 6. The children's joint Euler angles and angular velocities were measured and were used to calculate the phase angle (PA) and continuous relative phase (CRP). Firstly, a portrait of the mean and standard deviation (SD) of PA and CRP was applied to quantify coordination in the knees and ankles; then five key events in walking were selected and their inter-age differences were assessed by One-way ANOVA. Finally, gender differences were evaluated by GLM-Univariate. The significance level was 0.05 and confidence interval was 95%. Our results show that similar portraits of PA and CRP were found for knees and ankles from age 3 to 6; SD demonstrated that the PA and CRP in the knees and ankles were consistent with the increase in age. Moreover, θ_CRP(K-A) demonstrated that the direction reversal in heels off of those two joints in children aged 5 and 6 was earlier than those of age 3 and 4 and no inter-age significant differences were recorded for PA and CRP in either gait event. Finally, gender differences exist before the age of six, particularly in the transition period such as heel contact, toe off and during the mid swing. Overall, although further development such as gait control or balance is still improving, basic principle of intra-limb coordination has formed by the age of 3 and gender differences already existed before age of 6.
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NewsBot · Jan 17, 2022

Characteristics of inhomogeneous lower extremity growth and development in early childhood: a cross-sectional study
Sudarat Apibantaweesakul et al
BMC Pediatr. 2021 Dec 6;21(1):552

Background: Early childhood is a transferring stage between the two accelerated growth periods (infant and adolescent). Body dimensions are related to physical growth and development. The purpose of this study was to investigate physical growth in terms of anthropometry, muscle growth of the lower extremity, and functional development over early childhood.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out on 29 preschool children (PS: 3-5 years), 21 school children (SC: 6-8 years), and 22 adults (AD: 20-35 years). Lower extremity characteristics (segmental dimensions, muscle and adipose tissue thicknesses of the thigh and lower leg), and voluntary joint torque (knee and ankle) were measured. Correlations between parameters and group comparisons were performed.

Results: All the parameters except for body mass index (BMI) and subcutaneous adipose tissue thickness were correlated with age for PS and SC combined (r = 0.479-0.920, p < 0.01). Relative thigh and shank lengths to body height were greatest in AD and smallest in PS (p < 0.05) but the relative foot dimensions were significantly larger in PS and SC than in AD (p < 0.05). Relative subcutaneous adipose tissue thickness was largest in PS and lowest in AD. Muscle thickness and the muscle volume measure (estimated from muscle thickness and limb length) were significantly larger in older age groups (p < 0.05). All groups showed comparable muscle thickness when normalized to limb length. Joint torque normalized to estimated muscle volume was greatest for AD, followed by SC and PS (p < 0.05).

Conclusions: Relative lower extremity lengths increase with age, except for the foot dimensions. Muscle size increases with age in proportion to the limb length, while relative adiposity decreases. Torque-producing capacity is highly variable in children and rapidly develops toward adulthood. This cross-sectional study suggests that children are not a small scale version of adults, neither morphologically nor functionally.
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