Gait pattern in idiopathic scoliotic patients and control adolescent

Scoliosis is a 3D deformation of the spine and thoracic cage and mostly teenager girls are affected by it. Spatio-temporal parameters during walking has been described for this population but kinetic factors have not been documented as well as the asymmetry between the two legs. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to quantify the kinetics of the lower limbs in idiopathic scoliotic patients (ISP) and control adolescents. Ten control adolescents and nine ISP walked at comfortable speed for ten trials on a 10m walkway. Control adolescents walked at a slightly but not significantly faster speed than ISP. No other tendency is reported for cadence, stride length, stance and double support phases durations. Control adolescents show greater ankle (A2) plantar flexors energy generation during push-off and hip (H3) flexor energy generation during late stance and early swing phases compared to ISP. ISP displayed significantly more work asymmetry than controls for the knee absorption bursts. Generally, work bursts of the control group are usually greater than the ones of the ISP group. The greater work reported by the ankle plantar flexors (A2) during push-off and hip flexors (H3) during late stance and pull-off can explain the higher walking speed compared to the ISP group.