The influence of childhood obesity on spatio-temporal gait parameters.

Abstract

The musculoskeletal and neurosensorial development of children can be affected by excess body weight. Studies have examined how childhood obesity affects gait, but much about the influence of this factor remains to be determined. The aim of our study is to analyse, in a large sample of children, the influence of obesity on the spatiotemporal parameters of the gait cycle, in the most natural way possible, with the subjects walking overground at a self-selected speed. For this study, the sample was composed of 238 healthy school children, composed of 114 (47.9%) girls and 124 (52.1%) boys, aged 7-11 years. For each one, the body mass index was calculated, according to which the subjects were classified by percentiles as low weight, normal weight, overweight or obese. Anthropometric variables were measured and the spatiotemporal parameters of gait were assessed by the OptoGait® portable photocell system. The spatial variables did not reveal significant differences between the children with normal weight and those with obesity. However, the differences for stance phase, load response and pre-swing phase (p = 0.0001, p = 0.016 and p = 0.0001, respectively) were clearly significant. Childhood obesity exerts a significant influence on gait by increasing the duration of load response and that of the pre-swing towards the oscillation phase and therefore the total duration of the support phase. This outcome requires greater energy expenditure to stabilise the gait of children with obesity, and could have biomechanical repercussions.