Validity and Reliability of Spatio-Temporal Gait Parameters in Adolescents

Gait is a complex activity based on information captured by periphery receptors and elaborated at the level of central nervous system. The age of 6 years seems to constitute a turning point in locomotor control[1]. From about 7-8 years of life no difference to the adult pattern could be observed[2], even if recent studies have implied that gait maturation may continue beyond the age of 8 years and may not be complete until 13 years of age[3, 4]. The dynamic baropodometry is used to evaluate adolescent gait in cerebral palsy, idiopathic scoliosis, hip arthrodesis and anatomical alterations of plantar foot[5, 6]. The purpose of this study was to recruit twenty-two healthy asymptomatic adolescents (14 boys mean age 13.6±1.6; 8 girls, mean age 12.8±1.2) to determine the reliability in assessing spatiotemporal measurements frequently used in clinical practice. During a 4 months period, at Department of Orthodontics, University of Palermo, we analysed 22 healthy subjects without orthopaedic, neurological and/or musculo-skeletal problems who needed orthodontic treatment. Written informed consent to participate in the study was obtained. The subjects were tested with an electronic baropodometer (Milletrix System® Roma, Italy) twice at an interval of one week by one clinician to determine test-retest reliability and twice at the same day by two clinicians to determine inter-rater reliability. The test-retest measures of reliability demonstrated moderate-to-good within-session, ranging from 0.62 to 0.99. Very reliable were cadence (left foot ICC = 0,92, 95% CI = 0,32 to 0,89, right foot ICC = 0,95, 95% CI = 0,74- 0,94) and total surface (left foot ICC = 0,96, 95% CI = 0,82-0,97, right foot ICC = 0.91, 95% CI = 0,89-0,92).