gaitanddevelopment-blog

[gaitanddevelopment-blog]

Introduction

Running is considered one of the most essential motor skills, and is a major aspect of a variety sports whether it is incorporated in the game itself or in fitness training before or after. Though running may not be part of all sports, the components acquired through its development supplement all sport. Running is a natural form of movement for humans, but is considered a very complex form of movement that has been studied numerous times. There are many components to an individual’s running gait pattern, thus it is a challenge to access the many fine distinctions between different age groups, athletic levels, and unique individual gait. (Running, like many other behaviors, is modified and fine-tuned throughout one’s lifespan, developing to suit the needs of the growing individual.)

There are many forms of running, such as sprinting, long distance, mid-distance and jogging; however for the purpose of this in-depth analysis, only sprinting and top speed gait patterns will be analyzed. For the purposes of this study, a cross-sectional analysis of the changes in running gait patterns during a 30-meter shuttle run were observed in five individuals with ages ranging from five to sixty.

To analyze changes in sprint performance throughout development, this report is focused on changes in stride length, kinematic differences, and position of center of mass (Guilherme, 2015).  

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Analysis of Early Childhood Gait 

Hailey, age 4

Stride Length  

When analyzing Hailey’s stride length, we can see that she takes very small, uneven steps in order to propel herself forward. She has a very short stride length as she takes approximately thirty- two steps to cover thirty meters and takes about seven seconds to do so. According to Sutherland (1997), the force generated, and distance covered in a single stride length is directly related to lower extremity length. Therefore, it would justify why Hailey runs slower than other children and adults.

Lower Extremity Functional Changes  

Other aspects that effect Hailey’s sprinting performance at this stage of development are the development of the knee flexion/ extension curve and changes in the dynamic stabilization movements of the hip in the Coronal and transverse planes of movement. The most predominant change observed in Hailey’s age group is the development of an initial knee flexion wave, which is the flexion of the knee during loading response and extension in the mid stance stage of gait. This flexion wave is initiated by the eccentric contraction of the quadriceps muscle and acts as a shock absorber which also helps raise the body’s center of mass. The raise in the center of mass is essential for reducing the amount of energy required for running. This wave is present earlier in life but is not well developed until around four years of age ( Whitall J., Getchell N., 1995) ( Sutherland, 1997)

When observing the position of Hailey’s hips during the 30-meter sprint, we can see that she externally rotates her hips slightly which causes her to take wider strides to keep a wider base of support required to keep her balance. This observation is supported by Sutherland’s report on the curve pattern of hip rotation which states that children ages 1 through 7 show external rotation bias. (Rumpf M.C. et al, 2015)

Upper Extremity Function/ Position of Center of Mass  

Hailey displays shoulder abduction and elbow flexion during her arm swing, a movement that is typically seen in children around the age of 12 –18 months who are just learning to walk. According to Van de Walle and colleagues (2018), the shoulder joint angulation waveform in children ages 3-6 years of age should show significantly more extension and elbow flexion when compared to adolescents and older adults. Their study found that the center of mass for children ages 4-7 sits higher than that of an adult and that the slightly more horizontal swing of the arms during running aid in balance control (Masci I.,2013). We can see this lack of balance control as Hailey struggles to run in a straight line on a relatively even surface. Therefore, we can conclude that the deviation in Hailey’s arm swing motion is to compensate for her weak balance control during top speed sprinting.

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Analysis of Later Childhood Gait in a 30m Sprint  

Annabelle, age 8 

Heel Strike 

A heel strike generally marks the beginning of a stride; however, here we see Annabelle running primarily on her toes. Her initial contact with the ground happens on the balls of her feet, followed by some exaggerated ankle inversion; this causes the heel to fall to the ground as her foot moves from a flexed into neutral position. Therefore, because her initial contact is mainly centered on the balls of her feet and any heel-ground contact is a passive result of ankle inversion while transitioning from flexed to neutral, heel strike is essentially non-existent in her sprint.  

Body Sway  

Body sway is used as a balance-maintenance mechanism. Unlike the gross body sway observed in the previous age category, Annabelle’s body sway is more controlled; her torso remains relatively linear throughout her sprint with minimal side flexion. Between the ages of 7-11, body-segment movements begin synchronizing, contributing to reduced body sway and smoother whole-body movements (Essays, UK., 2018).  

Arm Swing  

Arm swing is another balance-maintenance mechanism utilized when performing compound movements. In Annabelle’s sprint, forearm movement comprises most of her arm swing. Her upper arms are used more for momentum, typically moving more with exertional change compared to her forearms which display constant, irregular movement to compensate for minor balance perturbances while running. In addition, forearm muscles are slightly developmentally behind the shoulder and upper arm muscles, resulting in reduced forearm control.  

Stride Length 

Annabelle’s stride length has increased only slightly in comparison to the age category before hers. This is attached to the increased stability of her whole stride from her advanced control over torso and leg movement, allowing her to cover more distance without compromising balance. This control can be tied back to the growth and development of muscle mass and neural network formation.  

Discussion of Gait in Ages 6-12 years  

In middle childhood, movement coordination and control, especially in gross motor skills like walking, running, and jumping, develop quickly. These advancements can be accredited to increases in body size and muscle mass, and the formation and myelination of neural networks associated with areas of the brain that are responsible for balance and coordination, most notably in the frontal lobe (Woolfolk, 2012). Young children know how to execute most gross movements but are not able to control or coordinate them well until they reach age 6 or 7 (Essays, UK., 2018)  

In addition to their neural and physical development, increases in flexibility (range of movement in primary joints) and agility (changing body position, requiring coordination, speed, and strength) play a part in improved control and coordination. These findings signify that in children who follow standard development patterns and show timely improvements in gait parameters (Hillman SJ, Stansfield BW, Richardson AM, Robb JE, 2009), gait variability decreases with age and a mature gait pattern begins around age 7, signified by a high level of automaticity and regularity and low gait variability (Arx, Priska Hagmann-Von, et al.). It is easy to conclude that gait speed, stride length, and support base all increase while gait variability decreases as age increases (Lythgo N, et al.).   

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Analysis of Adolescence -- Ages 12-18  

Maddie, age 17  

Body Sway  

By adolescence, the ability to coordinate gross movements increases. This results in the observable change in which Maddie is able to control and coordinate her movements better than younger subjects. This increase in coordination results in less postural sway, allowing Maddie to run straighter than previous subjects.  

Heel Strike  

When analyzing the interaction between Maddie’s foot and the pavement, Maddie can be seen adopting a more pronounced rear foot strike behaviour in her running. Rear foot strike is when the heel of the subject’s foot strikes the pavement before the ball of the foot which has a biomechanical advantage for propulsion, balance, and is characteristic of development of coordination of fine movements. This development is seen in Maddie, but not as much in earlier ages, because rear foot strike increases as a function with age therefore adolescents experience increased rear foot strike when compared to younger children (Latorre et al., 2019).  

Arm Swing  

During acceleration, Maddie displays increased coordination of her arms with relation to her body, using the motion of her arms to help increase her speed and balance. Maddie’s arms move more linear in the midsagittal plane compared to the younger subjects, as well as there is a greater increase in the range of motion around the joints. Most notably this movement occurs around the glenohumeral joint and the elbow joint. This is characteristic of her age group as arm swing in adolescence becomes more consistently timed and also displays greater range of motion at the joints compared to younger children (Van de Walle et al, 2018). The range of motion around Maddie’s joints decreases as she decelerates near the end of the sprint which shows an increased awareness of how her arm movements are related to control of speed and balance. 

Stride Length  

As is characteristic of adolescents, Maddie has a greater stride length ratio when running compared to younger children. Maddie also characterizes an increased acceleration phase when compared to younger subjects. The acceleration phase, in addition to increased stride frequency, can attribute to the observed differences in age groups with a result in greater top speed (Chatzilarzaridis et al, 2012).  

Discussion 

Increases in stride length and decreases in degree of body sway can be attributed to the strength attained as a consequence of muscle fibers becoming thicker and denser as adolescents grow. Also, joint development allows adolescents to develop a sense of coordination that is nears the ability of a fully mature adults which can account for the increased coordination in arm swing as well as heel strike (Boyd et al., 2018). Since Maddie is 17 years old, she is at the later end of the defined age category of adolescence and therefore she has demonstrated advanced developments characteristic of adolescence.  

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Analysis of Early Adulthood

Carla, age 21

At the start of a sprint, the objective is to achieve maximum acceleration. Throughout the rest of the sprint, the objective is to achieve maximum velocity. This requires a change in the movement, body position, technique and biomechanics of the individual as they move through a sprint. Here, we will examine each component in those two objectives.

Trunk Position

At the start, she begins from a knelt-down stance with staggered feet. Her propelling foot aligns her ankle, knee, hip, along the crown of her head on a forward lean. The head faces towards the ground as to keep a neutral cervical spine.

During the rest of the sprint, the aim is to achieve maximum velocity. Here, an upright posture, not a forward lean, is required. She achieves that quickly and maintains it throughout the sprint.

Arm Swing

Arm swing shows little to no change from the start to the finish. The shoulders remain relatively relaxed, creating a fluid overall movement. Arms remain in flexion as they move in sync with her trunk and legs throughout entire sprint. This helps maintain balance and increase momentum.

Heel Strike 

The aim is to strike the ground with the heel. To do so, the foot must be placed in dorsiflexion, placing the Achilles tendon on stretch. This allows for the use of the stretch shortening cycles. She continues to use this cycle throughout the sprint. To accelerate, she relies on low ground clearance to quickly propel herself forward.

To achieve maximum velocity, it’s optimal to produce high knees, up to 90-degrees relative to the body to get max knee drive. In the video, her knees are quite low, contributing little to no momentum to her movement.

Heel strike must be made close to the center of mass to avoid creating more braking force that could result in reduced speed. Carla strikes the ground close to her center of mass throughout the sprint.

Stride Length

During acceleration, Carla relies on slower ground contact times to allow herself more time to apply forward force towards her sprint.

In contrast, to achieve and maintain maximum velocity, she relies on fast ground contact time. Due to high forward momentum, with each stride adding more momentum, the stride length increases. With that Carla will rely heavily on the elastic component of the muscle tendon, specifically the Achilles, to use the stretch shortening cycle maximally.

Discussion

An individual reaches their peak during early adulthood. Compared to older adults, those in their 20s have more muscle tissue, brain mass, and max bone calcium. At this time, the brain, muscles, joints, and bones are nearly fully developed. With nearly fully developed neural pathways (Lebel & Beaulieu, 2011), this gives a person like Carla the optimal mental and physical power to approach the sprint. During this age, the heart and lungs reach peak performance. After 20s, going into the 30s, the body systems begin to decrease in performance and adaptability (Kallman et al., 1990). It becomes harder to train and maintain performance (Goldberg, Dengel, & Hagberg, 1996).

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Analysis of Later Adulthood -- Ages 60+ 

Phillip, age 60 

Body Sway  

Phillip can be seen in the video demonstrating a larger degree of postural deviation when compared to younger adults. The deviation is not as pronounced as young children, however the age-related changes in muscle can clearly be seen beginning to have an effect on Phillip’s overall postural coordination.  

Heel Strike  

Phillip also displays pronounced rear foot strike behaviour when running. Rear foot strike behaviour is nearly fully developed by late adolescence (Latorre et al., 2019). While Phillip is not as fast or powerful as a younger adult, he is still able to go through the proper biomechanical motions.  

 Arm Swing  

Also characteristic of older adults is a decreased range of motion at the shoulder and elbow joints. In this video, we can see Phillip experience stiffness of the shoulder and elbow joints even though there is good coordination of arm movement relative to body movement when running. Phillip is attempting to utilize his skills acquired in earlier adulthood of coordination and large range of motion but is unable to produce optimal range of motion at the shoulder and elbow joint.  

Stride Length  

Phillip, portraying one of the key characteristics of age-related motor development, can be seen experiencing is slower gait speed and shorter stride length ratio in relation to younger adults. Age-associated changes in gait speed and kinetics have been shown to be more pronounced when the subject is moving at faster speeds when compared to natural walking speeds. Older adults also experience declines in medial-lateral hip-generative mechanical work expenditure, which can account for decreases in joint power from hip and ankle therefore affecting stride length and speed (Ko et al., 2012).  In addition to decreases in power generated from the hip, joint stiffness can also account for decreases in range of motion about the hip and knee joint can also account for shorter stride length and slower speed as demonstrated by Phillip during his sprint.  

Discussion 

The changes from young adulthood to older adulthood can be explained by several developmental factors. As the body ages, it experiences a decline in muscular strength. This decline in muscular strength can be observed in Phillip, as he is unable to reach the same speed as the younger adult subject. Phillip also experiences shorter stride length ratio due to loss of power at the hip and ankle. Loss of speed can also be explained by a general slowing of the nervous system in which dendrite loss at the neuronal level contributes significantly to impairment of tasks that the younger self would have been able to perform at. Older adults also experience arthritic changes at the joint (Boyd et al., 2018). These changes at the joint can explain why Phillip is seen having difficulty optimizing his range of motion at the shoulder and elbow joint during arm swing, and knee and hip during the gait cycle.  

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Conclusion

Running, like all other essential skills, grows and develops as the person does. Being fundamental in many sports, running is a skill sometimes overlooked in terms of its development. Running becomes more accurate, balanced, powerful, and efficient as the development of muscle fibers, joints, bones, and the cardiovascular system reach their peaks.

With increasing age, developmental changes perpetuate a more stable, focused gait during running, as observed in the previous videos. This is due to the development of body structures that support this increased demand on the body. Once peak development has been achieved though, bones begin to weaken, muscle becomes harder to train, motor skills fade, neural function slows, and the heart wears away. This makes it difficult to perform certain tasks, one of which is running.

The body’s capacity to take on such a role declines with age. Not only does muscle and bone mass decrease with age, decreases in white and grey matter in the brain, along with other physiological changes make tasks as simple as running more physically demanding. Though such declines in bone and muscle are inevitable, research has shown that aerobic exercise can improve VO2 max in both younger and older adults (Wilmore et al., 2001). From this, decreases in VO2 max may reflect the effects of a sedentary lifestyle. Yet, even with aerobic exercise, such age-related changes would occur.

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