Hearing and Gait Parameters

Here's an interesting study looking at the effects of her hearing on gait. Noticed that in children with hearing loss, walking speed was slower and this increased more with dual tasking. Muscle activities were greater as well, with respect to the medial gastroc, which is a strong he will adductor and supinator as well as vastus lateralis which internal swing is attenuating external rotation of the leg.

This implies that auditory cues and clues are important considerations during gait analysis and gait retraining.

"The findings indicated that gait speed in children with hearing loss was smaller than that in control group. Dual task resulted in a decreased walking speed of children with hearing loss. The activities of tibialis anterior muscle in terminal stance phase (p = 0.040), medial gastrocnemius muscle in loading response and initial swing phases (p < 0.05), and vastus lateralis muscle in the terminal stance and pre swing phases (p < 0.05) were greater in deaf group. In deaf children the gait speed was reduced and the muscle activity was increased with respect to those in control group. This altered gait speed and muscle activity is suggestive of a lower mechanical efficiency of gait in deaf children"

see our other posts on this here: https://thegaitguys.tumblr.com/search/sound

.https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28752319