Walking is part of daily life and in asymptomatic subjects it is relatively easy. The physiology of walking is complex and when this complex control system fails, the risk of falls increases.
As a result, gait disorders have a major impact on the older adult population and have increased
in frequency as a result of population aging. Therefore, the OptoGait sensor is intended to identify
gait imbalances in pronating feet to try to prevent falling and injury by compensating for it with
treatments that normalize such alteration. This study is intended to assess whether spatiotemporal
alterations occur in the gait cycle in a young pronating population (cases) compared to a control
group (non-pronating patients) analyzed with OptoGait. Method: a total of n = 142 participants
consisting of n = 70 cases (pronators) and n = 72 healthy controls were studied by means of a 30 s
treadmill program with a system of 96 OptoGait LED sensors. Results: Significant differences were
found between the two groups and both feet in stride length and stride time, gait cycle duration and
gait cadence (in all cases p < 0.05). Conclusions: pronating foot posture alters normal gait patterns
measured by OptoGait; this finding presents imbalance in gait as an underlying factor. Prevention
of this alteration could be considered in relation to its relationship to the risk of falling in future
investigations.
