Award Date

5-1-2024

Degree Type

Doctoral Project

Degree Name

Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT)

Department

Physical Therapy

First Committee Member

Daniel Young

Second Committee Member

Thessa Hilgenkamp

Third Committee Member

Merrill Landers

Number of Pages

35

Abstract

Background: Individuals with Down syndrome (DS), often experience a slower gait speed and decreased quality of gait. Different types of footwear have shown changes in gait in people without DS. The current study aimed to examine the differences between wearing commercially available supportive shoes, unsupportive shoes, and no footwear on gait quality and speed in people with DS.

Methods: In this repeated measures study, 20 adults with DS walked under three footwear conditions: supportive, unsupportive, and no footwear. Gait deviations were scored according to the Rancho Los Amigos Observational Gait Analysis (OGA) and gait speed was measured using the 10-Meter Walk Test.

Results: When gait was examined, the OGA results showed significant differences across all three conditions for overall major deviations (F=3.912, df=2, p=.029; p=0.026) and overall total deviations (F=3.896, df=2, p=.029; p=0.047) for left and right legs, respectively. Pairwise comparisons between conditions did not reach significance. There was a significant difference in gait speed (Greenhouse-Geisser adjusted F=8.974, p=0.004). Gait speed was significantly faster when participants wore supportive shoes compared to when they walked barefoot (8.9±2.0 vs. 10.0±2.3, p=0.002) and compared to when they wore unsupportive shoes (8.9±2.0 vs. 10.8±3.4, p=0.014)

Conclusion: Adults with Down syndrome who wore supportive shoes demonstrated better gait quality with fewer deviations compared to when they walked barefoot. Additionally, they had a faster gait speed when walking in supportive shoes compared to both walking in unsupportive shoes and barefoot.

Keywords

Down syndrome; Gait; Gait quality; Gait speed; Walking, shoes; Supportive; Unsupportive; Barefoot; Feet; Footwear

Disciplines

Physical Therapy

File Format

pdf

File Size

1290 KB

Degree Grantor

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Language

English

Rights

IN COPYRIGHT. For more information about this rights statement, please visit http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

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