Journal of Kerman University of Medical Sciences

Current Issue

By Issue

By Author

Author Index

Keyword Index

About Journal

Aims and Scope

JKMU Ethical Policies

Indexing and Abstracting

Related Links

FAQ

Peer Review Process

News

Metric

Editorial Policies

Data Sharing Policy

Gait ground reaction force characteristics in children with and without forward head posture

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Assistant Professor, Sport Biomechanics, University of Mohaghegh Ardabili, Ardabil, Iran

2 M.Sc. Sport Biomechanics, University of Mohaghegh Ardabili, Ardabil, Iran

Abstract

Background: Forward head posture is one of the most prevalent abnormal postures in patients with neck disorders. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of forward head posture on gait ground reaction force characteristics in children.
Methods: Twelve children with forward head posture (age: 11.8±1.3 years) and sixteen healthy control children (age: 11.7±1.4 years) volunteered to participate in this study. Each participant was asked to walk 10 m in six trials with self-selected speed. The ground reaction force was measured by two Kistler Force Platforms at a frequency of 1000 Hz. MANOVA test ((version 16, SPSS Inc, Chicago, Il)) was used for between group comparisons.
Results: In the non-dominant limb, the medio-lateral ground reaction force during push off phasein the forward head group was greater than that in the healthy group by 22.1% (P=0.049). In the dominant limb, time to peak for vertical ground reaction force during heel contact(by 13.7%; P=0.015) and push off(by 14.2%; P=0.004), mediolateral ground reaction force during heel contact (by 46.0%; P=0.006) and push off (by 15.1%; P=0.039) in the forward head group were significantly lower than those in the healthy group. Vertical loading, peak positive and negative free moment, and impulses in all axes were similar in the healthy and the forward head groups (P>0.05).
Conclusion: Overall, the results reveal that gait ground reaction force components (especially time to peak for ground reaction forces) in forward head children may have clinical importance for the improvement of walking mechanics of these individuals. Rehabilitation protocols should be designed to increase time to reach peak ground reaction forces and decrease medio-lateral ground reaction force in forward head children during walking.   

Keywords

References
  1. Peterson Kendall F, Kendall McCreary E, Geise Provance P, McIntyre Rodgers M, Romani WA. Muscles Testing and Function with Posture and Pain. 5th ed. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins; 2005.
  2. Yip CH, Chiu TT, Poon AT. The relationship between head posture and severity and disability of patients with neck pain. Man Ther 2008; 13(2):148-54.
  3. Griegel-Morris P, Larson K, Mueller-Klaus K, Oatis CA. Incidence of common postural abnormalities in the cervical, shoulder, and thoracic regions and their association with pain in two age groups of healthy subjects. Phys Ther 1992; 72(6):425-31.
  4. Raine S, Twomey LT. Head and shoulder posture variations in 160 asymptomatic women and men. Arch Phys Med Rehabil 1997; 78(11):1215-23.
  5. Salahzadeh Z, Maroufi N, Ahmadi A, Behtash H, Razmjoo A, Gohari M, et al. Assessment of forward head posture in females: observational and photogrammetry methods. J Back Musculoskelet Rehabil 2014; 27(2):131-9.
  6. Kamper SJ, Henschke N, Hestbaek L, Dunn KM, Williams CM. Musculoskeletal pain in children and adolescents. Braz J Phys Ther 2016; 20(3):275-84.
  7. Falla D, O’Leary S, Fagan A, Jull G. Recruitment of the deep cervical flexor muscles during a postural-correction exercise performed in sitting. Man Ther 2007; 12(2):139-43.
  8. Keshner EA, Cromwell RL, Peterson BW. Mechanisms controlling human head stabilization. II. Head-neck characteristics during random rotations in the vertical plane. J Neurophysiol 1995; 73(6):2302-12.
  9. Pozzo T, Berthoz A, Lefort L. Head stabilization during various locomotor tasks in humans. Exp Brain Res 1990; 82(1):97-106.
  10. Grossman GE, Leigh RJ, Abel LA, Lanska DJ, Thurston SE. Frequency and velocity of rotational head perturbations during locomotion. Exp Brain Res 1988; 70(3):470-6.
  11. Hirasaki E, Moore ST, Raphan T, Cohen B. Effects of walking velocity on vertical head and body movements during locomotion. Experimental Brain Research 1999; 127(2):117-30.
  12. Latt MD, Menz HB, Fung VS, Lord SR. Walking speed, cadence and step length are selected to optimize the stability of head and pelvis accelerations. Exp Brain Res 2008; 184(2):201-9.
  13. Holt KJ, Jeng SF, Ratcliffe R, Hamill J. Energetic cost and stability during human walking at the preferred stride frequency. J Mot Behav 1995; 27(2):164-78.
  14. Cromwell R, Schurter J, Shelton S, Vora S. Head stabilization strategies in the sagittal plane during locomotor tasks. Physiother Res Int 2004; 9(1):33-42.
  15. Cromwell RL, Newton RA, Carlton LG. Horizontal plane head stabilization during locomotor tasks. J Mot Behav 2001; 33(1):49-58.
  16. Kogler A, Lindfors J, Ödkvist LM, Ledin T. Postural stability using different neck positions in normal subjects and patients with neck trauma. Acta Otolaryngol 2000; 120(2):151-5.
  17. Vuillerme N, Rougier P. Effects of head extension on undisturbed upright stance control in humans. Gait Posture 2005; 21(3):318-25.
  18. Harman K, Hubley-Kozey CL, Butler H. Effectiveness of an exercise program to improve forward head posture in normal adults: a randomized, controlled 10-week trial. Journal of Manual & Manipulative Therapy 2005;13(3):163-76.
  19. Bokaee F, Rezasoltani A, Manshadi FD, Naimi SS, Baghban AA, Azimi H. Comparison of cervical muscle thickness between asymptomatic women with and without forward head posture. Braz J Phys Ther 2017; 21(3):206-11.
  20. Yoo WG, An DH. The relationship between the active cervical range of motion and changes in head and neck posture after continuous VDT work. Ind Health 2009; 47(2):183-8.
  21. Goodarzi F, Rahnama L, Karimi N, Baghi R, Jaberzadeh S. The effects of forward head posture on neck extensor muscle thickness: an ultrasonographic study. J Manipulative Physiol Ther 2018;.41(1):34-41.
  22. Weon JH, Oh JS, Cynn HS, Kim YW, Kwon OY, Yi CH. Influence of forward head posture on scapular upward rotators during isometric shoulder flexion. J Bodyw Mov Ther 2010; 14(4):367-74.
  23. Winter DA. Biomechanics and Motor Control of Human Movement. 4th ed. USA: John Wiley & Sons; 2009.
  24. Robertson DG, Caldwell GE, Hamill J, Kamen G, Whittlesey SN. Research methods in biomechanics. J Sports Sci Med 2014; 13(1):i.
  25. Morita S, Yamamoto H, Furuya K. Gait analysis of hemiplegic patients by measurement of ground reaction force. Scand J Rehabil Med 1995; 27(1):37-42.
  26. Goldie PA, Matyas TA, Evans OM, Galea M, Bach TM. Maximum voluntary weight-bearing by the affected and unaffected legs in standing following stroke. Clin Biomech (Bristol, Avon) 1996; 11(6):333-42.
  27. Dean CM, Shepherd RB. Task-related training improves performance of seated reaching tasks after stroke. Stroke 1997; 28(4):722-8.
  28. Giannini S, Catani F, Benedetti MG. Gait Analysis: Methodologies and Clinical Applications. Netherlands: IOS Press; 1994.
  29. Farahpour N, Jafarnezhad A, Damavandi M, Bakhtiari A, Allard P. Gait ground reaction force characteristics of low back pain patients with pronated foot and able-bodied individuals with and without foot pronation. J Biomech 2016; 49(9):1705-10.
  30. Jafarnezhadgero AA, Oliveira AS, Mousavi SH, Madadi-Shad M. Combining valgus knee brace and lateral foot wedges reduces external forces and moments in osteoarthritis patients. Gait Posture 2018; 59:104-10.
  31. Van Niekerk SM, Louw Q, Vaughan C, Grimmer-Somers K, Schreve K. Photographic measurement of upper-body sitting posture of high school students: a reliability and validity study. BMC Musculoskelet Disord 2008; 9:113.
  32. Faul F, Erdfelder E, Lang AG, Buchner A. G* Power 3: a flexible statistical power analysis program for the social, behavioral, and biomedical sciences. Behav Res Methods 2007; 39(2):175-91.
  33. Jafarnezhadgero A, Shad MM, Majlesi M, Zago M. Effect of kinesio taping on lower limb joint powers in individuals with genu varum. J Bodyw Mov Ther 2018; 22(2):511-8.
  34. Cuccia AM, Carola C. The measurement of craniocervical posture: a simple method to evaluate head position. Int J Pediatr Otorhinolaryngol 2009;73(12):1732-6.
  35. Liikavainio T, Isolehto J, Helminen HJ, Perttunen J, Lepola V, Kiviranta I, et al. Loading and gait symmetry during level and stair walking in asymptomatic subjects with knee osteoarthritis: importance of quadriceps femoris in reducing impact force during heel strike? knee 2007; 14(3):231-8.
  36. Munro CF, Miller DI, Fuglevand AJ. Ground reaction forces in running: a reexamination. J Biomech 1987; 20(2):147-55.
  37. Almosnino S, Kajaks T, Costigan PA. The free moment in walking and its change with foot rotation angle. BMC Sports Science, Medicine and Rehabilitation 2009; 1:19.
  38. Jafarnezhadgero AA, Shad MM, Majlesi M, Granacher U. A comparison of running kinetics in children with and without genu varus: a cross sectional study. PloS one 2017; 12(9):e0185057.
  39. Aylar MF, Dionisio VC, Jafarnezhadgero A. Do the center of mass strategies change with restricted vision during the sit-to-stand task? Clinical Biomechanics 2019; 62:104-12.
  40. Cohen J. Statistical Power Analysis for the Behavioral Sciences. 2nd ed. New York: Academic Press; 1988.
  41. Stacoff A, Diezi C, Luder G, Stüssi E, Kramers-de Quervain IA. Ground reaction forces on stairs: effects of stair inclination and age. Gait Posture 2005; 21(1):24-38.
  42. Begg RK, Sparrow WA, Lythgo ND. Time domain analysis of foot–ground reaction forces in negotiating obstacles. Gait Posture 1998; 7(2):99-109.
  43. Hamill J, McNiven SL. Reliability of selected ground reaction force parameters during walking. Hum Mov Sci 1990; 9(2):117-31.
  44. White R, Agouris I, Selbie RD, Kirkpatrick M. The variability of force platform data in normal and cerebral palsy gait. Clin Biomech (Bristol, Avon) 1999; 14(3):185-92.
  45. John CT, Seth A, Schwartz MH, Delp SL. Contributions of muscles to mediolateral ground reaction force over a range of walking speeds. J Biomech 2012; 45(14):2438-43.

 

Journal of Kerman University of Medical Sciences
Volume 26, Issue 1
January and February 2019
Pages 55-66
Files
Share
How to cite
Statistics