Neuromechanical gait adaptations in women with joint hypermobility - an exploratory study

Schmid, Stefan; Luder, Gere; Mueller Mebes, Christine; Stettler, Matthias; Stutz, Ursula; Ziswiler, Hans-Rudolf; Radlinger, Lorenz (2013). Neuromechanical gait adaptations in women with joint hypermobility - an exploratory study. Clinical biomechanics, 28(9-10), pp. 1020-1025. Elsevier 10.1016/j.clinbiomech.2013.09.010

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BACKGROUND

Joint hypermobility is known to be associated with joint and muscle pain, joint instability and osteoarthritis. Previous work suggested that those individuals present an altered neuromuscular behavior during activities such as level walking. Therefore, the aim of this study was to explore the differences in ground reaction forces, temporal parameters and muscle activation patterns during gait between normomobile and hypermobile women, including symptomatic and asymptomatic hypermobile individuals.

METHODS

A total of 195 women were included in this cross-sectional study, including 67 normomobile (mean 24.8 [SD 5.4] years) and 128 hypermobile (mean 25.8 [SD 5.4] years), of which 56 were further classified as symptomatic and 47 as asymptomatic. The remaining 25 subjects could not be further classified. Ground reaction forces and muscle activation from six leg muscles were measured while the subjects walked at a self-selected speed on an instrumented walkway. Temporal parameters were derived from ground reaction forces and a foot accelerometer. The normomobile and hypermobile groups were compared using independent samples t-tests, whereas the normomobile, symptomatic and asymptomatic hypermobile groups were compared using one-way ANOVAs with Tukey post-hoc tests (significance level=0.05).

FINDINGS

Swing phase duration was higher among hypermobile (P=0.005) and symptomatic hypermobile (P=0.018) compared to normomobile women. The vastus medialis (P=0.049) and lateralis (P=0.030) and medial gastrocnemius (P=0.011) muscles showed higher mean activation levels during stance in the hypermobile compared to the normomobile group.

INTERPRETATION

Hypermobile women might alter their gait pattern in order to stabilize their knee joint.

Item Type:

Journal Article (Original Article)

Division/Institute:

04 Faculty of Medicine > Department of Dermatology, Urology, Rheumatology, Nephrology, Osteoporosis (DURN) > Clinic of Rheumatology, Clinical Immunology and Allergology

UniBE Contributor:

Ziswiler, Hans Rudolf

Subjects:

600 Technology > 610 Medicine & health

ISSN:

0268-0033

Publisher:

Elsevier

Language:

English

Submitter:

Stefan Kuchen

Date Deposited:

01 Apr 2014 15:56

Last Modified:

05 Dec 2022 14:29

Publisher DOI:

10.1016/j.clinbiomech.2013.09.010

PubMed ID:

24120181

Uncontrolled Keywords:

Electromyography, Ground reaction forces, Level walking

BORIS DOI:

10.7892/boris.42904

URI:

https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/42904

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