| Summary: | 碩士 === 國立臺灣大學 === 物理治療學研究所 === 90 === Abstract
The purposes of this study were to compare the kinematics of walking between low-risk preterm infants and full-term infants at 18 months corrected age, and to examine the predictability of the force-driven harmonic oscillator (FDHO) model on their walking periods. This study included 29 low-risk preterm infants and 29 full-term infants who were matched for sex and parental socio-economic status. The infants were asked to freely walk on a corridor and were videotaped with two synchronized cameras when walking in a laboratory. They were also assessed their growth, anthropometry, gross motor development and cognition. The video data of eight strides were selected for each infant and were analyzed using the Peak Performance Motion Analysis System. Comparison of the kinematics of walking between preterm and full-term infants showed significantly shorter stride length in the former than in the later (P<0.05). This difference was found to be associated with the confounding factors of ventilatiory use and walking experience (both P<0.05). The kinematics of walking was further examined for the infants who had walking experience of <6 months (n=28) and those with walking experience of ³6 months (n=30). The results showed significantly greater hip flexion angle at foot contact in the former than in the later (P<0.05). Comparison of the walking periods on the corridor, the walking periods in the laboratory, and the predicted periods of the FDHO model revealed no significant differences among the three periods in both preterm and full-term infants. Furthermore, the prediction error was smaller for the laboratory walking (full-term 7.7±5.6%, preterm 8.8±5.6%) than for the corridor walking (full-term 10.1±10%, preterm 9.3±6.3%). Our results indicate that walking experience may be an important factor related to the gait difference between low-risk preterm infants and full-term infants. Furthermore, the FDHO model is predictive of the walking periods in low-risk preterm infants and full-term infants at 18 months corrected age.
Key words: prematurity, gait, kinematic analysis, oscillatory model
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