Temporal spatial parameters of gait with barefoot, bathroom slippers and military boots

Nine temporal spatial parameters of gait were evaluated on 8 normal healthy able-bodied soldiers while walking barefoot, with bathroom slippers and military boots on, respectively. Subjects used their regular bathroom slippers and military boots for the study. A 5 camera based Expert Vision 3-D motion analysis system (M/s Motion Analysis Corporation, USA) was used while the subjects walked 10 meters along a straight and level walkway at a comfortable speed. Cleveland Clinic retro reflective marker sets for lower body were used to record static as well as walk data of both legs. Static and walk data were collected at 60 Hz and 120 Hz respectively. A minimum of 10 walking trials for each subject for each condition were obtained and at least 3 good trials having complete trajectories of all the markers covering entire gait cycle for each condition were selected for analysis as per routine gait analysis procedure. A total of 83, 81 and 74 full strides for barefoot, bathroom slippers and military boot respectively were subjected to statistical analysis. Step length and stride length increased significantly from barefoot to military boot with a significant reduction in cadence. Swing phase and single support time increased significantly from barefoot to bathroom slippers and military boot. Total support time and initial double support time decreased significantly for the same conditions compared to barefoot. The observations in this study indicated that use of footwear (bathroom slippers, military boot) caused significant changes in the gait parameters.