Age-related changes in arm motion during typical gait

•Reciprocal arm swinging is systematically present at three years of age.•Remnants of guard position can be noticed in young children.•Arm movement in children shows positional changes and increased variation.•Age-related changes but especially increased consistency can be seen until adolescence. When toddlers learn to walk, they do so with a typical high guard position of the arms. As gait matures, children develop a reciprocal arm swing. So far, there have been no attempts to describe age-related changes of arm movements during walking after this first rapid development. The purpose of this study was to investigate age-related changes in arm movement during typical gait. All participants (n = 102) received gait analysis using a full-body marker set (Plug-in Gait). Participants were divided into five age-groups: young children (G1: n = 20; 3.0–5.9y), children (G2: n = 24; 6.0–9.9y), pubertal children (G3: n = 26; 10.0–13.9y), adolescents (G4: n = 16; 14.0–18.9y) and adults (G5: n = 16; 19.0–35.2y). Age-related changes in arm movements were investigated by comparing continuous joint angular waveforms (spm1d) between all groups, as well as by comparing the mean joint angle and range of motion of the different joints between age-groups. The overall shape of movement patterns was comparable across all age groups. Nevertheless, with advancing age, consistency increased. At the shoulder, G1&2 showed a larger mean extension angle compared to older children and adults. The range of shoulder axial rotation was significantly larger in adults compared to all other age groups. In the youngest groups (G1-G2), an increased mean elbow flexion and mean wrist extension angle was found. Determining an exact age of maturation of arm swing remains difficult as parameter specific adult-like values were not reached at the same age but should not be set before the age of ten to fourteen years for any parameter.