A Kinematic analysis on the treadmill gait of children with Down Syndrome

Abstract The purpose of this study is to analyze the kinematic characteristics of children with Down syndrome got congenitally joint laxity and muscle hypotonic. The subjects are boys with Down syndrome and don't have the other disabilities. We got three dimensional position data and then calculated spatiotemporal and kinematic variables during walking on treadmill used increasingly for gait analysis and training. In result, in order to overcome their gait instability due to their musculoskeletal characteristics they walked with hip, knee and ankle joints more flexed than the typical gait pattern, and on the propulsion phase they extend the lower limb joints less than the typical, result in propel the body less than. The reason is that the more is the propulsion by extending the joints, the greater is the reaction force from the ground on heel contact. This result is expected to be used to develop the training program for intensification of musculoskeletal system aim to improve the othe