INTRODUCTION

Walking is an important component of overall functioning and independence at all ages. It is important to quantify a normal gait at every age in order to build a normative database to be used in assessing any pathology. It has been established that a mature gait pattern develops at three years of age (Sutherland et al., 1980). It is especially important to quantify the immature developing gait of a toddler, a child less than three years old, so that developmental abnormalities can be detected early and corrected if possible. As future health professionals, we realize the importance of the use of quantitative gait analysis as a clinical tool for quantifying normal and pathological patterns of walking. Normative data could be used to identify an emerging disability and could be used to document developmental changes in gait. Normative data would also be important as a reference for developing treatment protocols and assessing progress during treatment (Kadaba et al., 1987). The question of how gait parameters change and develop with age is also important for understanding the development of the neuromuscular and musculoskeletal systems. In this experiment we attempted to isolate the changes which occur between the immature gait of a toddler and that of an adult by analyzing their gait patterns during normal walking.

The purpose of our analysis was to compare the biomechanics of an immature and a mature gait cycle, determining some differences and similarities. We can use these observations to analyze what may be happening in the development of the musculoskeletal and neuromuscular systems. Comparing height to velocity of walking, cadence, and step length, we can examine whether the child's gait is simply a scaled down version of an adult's gait or whether it changes qualitatively with development. We analyzed the gait of a two and one-half year old toddler and a young adult walking on level ground at normal speed. We expected to find differences in the duration of single limb stance, double support time, walking velocity, cadence, step length, stride length, swing time, and stance time, which are important parameters for determining a mature gait (Wheelwright et al., 1993). We expected that the ratio of height to step length, velocity, and cadence would not be similar in the adult and toddler due to developmental changes which alter the gait pattern before it is considered mature. We also expected to find differences in the hip and knee joint angles and motion of the leg segment.