Practical Applications Walking Gait Assessment

Bri Rehborg

College of Science, Engineering, and Technology, Grand Canyon University

EXS-305: Motor Control and Motor Learning

Professor Kuehl

12/18/2022
 Video Link

https://youtu.be/E_qI7vBw9E0

Assessment

Video replay is an important observational power in assessing motor skill movements. It

is useful because it provides the ability to rewatch a skill and further analyze it. Videos capture

fast elements of the movement and the ability to slow the movement down or even pause on

specific modalities. In biomechanics research, video replay is able and has been shown to take

kinematic measurements as well (Knudson, 2013). Video replay provides us with so much more

than the naked eye can see and it is very important in assessing the qualitative movement

diagnosis.

In preparing for a standing posture assessment, a practitioner should know key landmarks

and what they are looking for when evaluating posture. It is important for a practitioner to use

the QMD in this process. When observing standing posture, it is crucial to gather information

from an anterior, posterior, and lateral view. Evaluation of posture should be done by a

knowledgeable practitioner that can identify what is normal and what may be abnormal. Seen in

normal posture the anterior view the head should sit without tilt or rotation and be centered over

the shoulders. Looking for abnormalities in the anterior view would be that possibly the eyes are

not aligned with the horizontal plane, or one ear sits lower than the other (Loudon et. al., 2013).

When assessing posterior posture, the two halves of the sagittal plane should be equal. An

abnormality may be that one shoulder sits higher than the other, one knee has valgus or there is a

slight lean. For the lateral view, a key point of alignment is the head position, it should be in life,

but often abnormalities are seen where the head sits forward in hyper kyphotic- lordotic posture.
Posture intervention does not happen immediately, it is a gradual change of proper alignment

that someone and their coach can work on.

The walking gait is a mechanical process and an efficient and common way of

locomotion. In my analysis of my client, she had a normal walking gait. Walking gaits are

common among individuals “due to the symmetry of joint angular motion and muscle activation

patterns” (Loudon et. al., 2013). First, I analyzed my client's sequence of walking, which looked

efficient and sequential. The gating cycle is the sequential completion of a single limb’s stance

phase and swing phase” (Loudon et. al., 2013). There were no abnormalities in my client, she

had a proper cycle, and her stride and step length looked similar from each view. There were no

corrections in any of the phases that were needed. She followed the proper cycle of the stance

phase including the loading response, midstance, terminal stance, pre-swing, and the swing phase

including the initial swing, mid-swing, and terminal swing. Then I looked at gait kinematics and

everything was equal in each plane, with no abnormalities. Her joint position of the hip, knee,

and ankle was monitored well in each plane. My client's gate kinetics, which are the mechanics

that decline the motion of force, was normal. She had proper ground reaction force, the center of

pressure, and joint movements. Overall, my client had a proper and effective gate cycle that was

repeated efficiently.
 Resources

Loudon, J.K., Manske, R.C. and Reiman, M.P., Clinical Mechanics and Kinesiology

(Champaign, IL: HumanKinetics)

Knudson, D.V., Qualitative Diagnosis of Human Movement,3rd ed. (Champaign, IL:Human

Kinetics).