title: Exploring effects of different treadmill interventions on walking onset and gait patterns in infants with Down syndrome.
abstract: Two cohorts of participants were included to investigate the effects of different treadmill interventions on walking onset and gait patterns in infants with Down syndrome (DS). The first cohort included 30 infants with DS (17 males, 13 females; mean age 10 mo [SD 1.9 mo]) who were randomly assigned to either a lower-intensity-generalized (LG) training group, or a higher-intensity-individualized (HI) training group. A control (C) group from another study, who did not receive treadmill training, served as the control (eight males, seven females; mean age 10.4 mo [SD 2.2 mo]). Mean age at walking onset was 19.2, 21.4, and 23.9 months for the HI, LG, and C groups respectively. At walking onset the HI group was significantly younger than the C group (p=0.011). At the gait follow-up that was conducted between 1 and 3 months after walking onset, three groups significantly different in overall gait patterns (p=0.037) were examined by six basic gait parameters including average velocity, stride length, step width, stride time, stance time, and dynamic base. Post-hoc analyses demonstrated that stride length was the gait parameter largely contributing to this overall group difference (p=0.033), and the HI group produced a significantly longer stride length than the C group (p=0.030). In conclusion, the HI treadmill intervention significantly promoted earlier walking onset and elicited more advanced gait patterns (particularly in stride length) in infants with DS.
authors.affiliation: Motor Development Laboratory, Center for Motor Behaviour and Pediatric Disabilities, Division of Kinesiology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
authors.forename: Jianhua
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Julia
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Looper
authors.forename: Beverly D
authors.initials: BD
authors.lastname: Ulrich
authors.forename: Dale A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Ulrich
authors.forename: Rosa M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Angulo-Barroso
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D004314:Down Syndrome / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000628:therapy*; D005081:Exercise Therapy; D005260:Female; D005684:Gait; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D016138:Walking