Estudo da variabilidade das forças de reação do solo na aquisição do andar independente em bebês A study of ground reaction forces variability during acquisition of independent gait in toddlers

Abstract

Este estudo avaliou o comportamento das forças de reação do solo (FRS) nos primeiros meses do andar independente, a fim de identificar mudanças na capacidade infantil de propulsionar e equilibrar o corpo em condição dinâmica. Foram avaliadas no período de três meses dez crianças com idade de 13 meses na primeira avaliação. As crianças caminharam em uma passarela de cinco metros de comprimento com duas plataformas de força embutidas. Foram estudadas magnitudes máximas e mínimas das FRS e as respectivas variabilidades. As avaliações foram comparadas através do teste não-paramétrico ANOVA de Friedman (pThis study aimed to describe ground reaction forces' profiles during toddler's gait at the first months of the acquisition phase of independent walking, in order to identify whether there are changes in the ability to propel and balance the body in this dynamic condition. Ten thirteen-month old toddlers volunteered to the study and were evaluated three times in a three-month interval. The toddlers walked over a 5 m long walkway with two force plates fixed at ground level. Vertical and horizontal peak reaction forces and variability coefficients were selected for analysis. To compare the results of the three evaluations ANOVA Friedman's tests were used at 5% level of significance. The walking experience achieved by the toddlers month after month was not sufficient to significantly change the biomechanical selected variables and statistically significant differences were not found for the selected variables along three months. However, a reduction in the variability coefficient for the vertical reaction forces suggests development towards an increasingly mature gait pattern.

Keywords

• biomecânica
• marcha
• crianças
• cinética
• biomechanics
• gait
• toddlers
• kinetics