Gait Variability during Barefoot and Shod Walk among Military Personnel

    Activity: Talk or presentation types › Oral presentation

    Description

    Evaluate gait variability parameters when walking barefoot and in military boots among previously injured and non-injured infantry soldiers.. Cases (n=32) were active-duty infantry male soldiers from Latvian Land Forces with a medical-record based history of lower leg overuse injury during the last 6 months of service before entering the study. During the study, cases recovered completely from the injury, did not report any functional limits, and were able to participate in all kinds of physical activities. Age and gender matched controls (n=32) were free of injury. Biomechanical gait analysis was performed in Rehabilitation Research Laboratory of Riga Stradiņš University. Stride time, stride length and variability were evaluated for barefoot and shod conditions.. The barefoot walk showed shorter stride length (r=0.64) and increased stride time (r=0.52) and stride length variability (r=0.74) compared to the shod walk among both study groups. Barefoot stride time (p=0.053) and stride time variability (p=0.030) were statistically different between cases and controls, effect sizes r=0.31 and r=0.85 respectively. During the shod walk, only the stride time was statistically different between the study groups (p=0.048, r=0.36). In univariate and multivariate analysis, only stride time variability (OR=2.71, 95% CI 1.31 – 5.60, p=0.007) during barefoot walking statistically significantly predicted the risk of lower leg overuse injury. ROC analysis of stride time variability showed an AUC (area under curve) of 0.77 (p
    Period29 Mar 2023
    Event titleRSU International Research Conference 2023: Knowledge for Use in Practice
    Event typeConference
    OrganiserRīga Stradiņš University
    LocationRiga, LatviaShow on map
    Degree of RecognitionInternational

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