title: Residual effects of a traumatic brain injury on locomotor capacity: a first study of spatiotemporal patterns during unobstructed and obstructed walking.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To understand the residual locomotor effects of a traumatic brain injury (TBI) on unobstructed and obstructed walking.
  
  
  METHODS
  Eight young, high-functioning adults with TBI and 4 healthy subjects.
  
  
  METHODS
  Spatiotemporal gait parameters and their relation to specific clinical measures of severity and locomotor and balance abilities.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Subjects with TBI walked slower and showed a tendency for greater foot clearances in all conditions. Slower walking was due to decreased stride lengths and not cadence, while higher foot clearances were due to placing the trailing foot farther from the obstacle and increasing hip flexion angles during avoidance.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results suggest that this highly functional TBI population used increased caution. Measures of injury severity did not provide simple predictions of locomotor ability, but the one-legged stance test with eyes closed correlated to walking capacity.
authors.affiliation: Center for Interdisciplinary Research in Rehabilitation and Social Integration and Department of Rehabilitation, Laval University Québec, Québec, Canada. brad.mcfadyen@rea.ulaval.ca
authors.forename: Bradford J
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: McFadyen
authors.forename: Bonnie
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Swaine
authors.forename: Denyse
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Dumas
authors.forename: Anne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Durand
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D001930:Brain Injuries / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D005684:Gait; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009048:Motor Skills; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric