Preserved gait kinematics during controlled body unloading

Table 1 Contrasts of different levels of unloading compared to baseline

Parameter	BL	10%	20%	30%	40%	50%
Step length [m]*	0.435 (0.036)	0.438 (0.043)	0.444 (0.045)	0.457 (0.048)	0.445 (0.046)	0.463 (0.051)
Cadence [steps/min]**	80.75 (6.38)	80.66 (7.88)	79.46 (8.02)	78.13 (8.89)	77.17 (9.10)	74.23 (9.64)
Stance phase [%]**	64.41 (1.09)	64.19 (1.16)	*63.21 (1.33)*	*62.23 (1.60)*	*61.14 (1.77)*	*59.42 (2.19)*
Swing phase [%]**	35.59 (1.09)	35.81 (1.16)	*36.79 (1.33)*	*37.77 (1.60)*	*38.86 (1.77)*	*40.58 (2.19)*
Single support phase [%]**	35.62 (1.05)	35.75 (1.17)	*36.76 (1.34)*	*37.90 (1.82)*	*38.93 (1.78)*	*40.48 (2.20)*
Double support phase [%]**	28.79 (2.13)	28.45 (2.32)	*26.45 (2.67)*	*24.33 (3.38)*	*22.20 (3.54)*	*18.94 (4.32)*
ACC hip-knee**	0.761	0.791	0.753	0.716	0.788	0.818
ACC knee-ankle**	0.744	0.773	0.732	0.695	0.759	0.778
SSD hip-knee [a.u.]**	0	*2.07*	*3.41*	*5.39*	*7.95*	*11.34*
SSD knee-ankle [a.u.]**	0	*1.58*	*3.37*	*5.37*	*8.21*	*11.26*

The outcome of the repeated measures general linear model (rmGLM) is represented by asterisks: * = p < 0.05 and ** = p < 0.01. Mean values (standard deviation in brackets) for each level of unloading and baseline are displayed on the right. Values highlighted in bold reflect p-values < 0.05 resulting from post-hoc paired t-tests and values highlighted in bold and italic represent p-values < 0.01. Percentages indicate % of gait cycle. ACC = angular component of coefficient of correspondence, a.u. = arbitrary units, SSD = square root of sum of squared distances

ISSN: 1743-0003