2022 Volume 13 Issue 1 Pages 1_3-1_11
We devised a practice aimed at improving the ability of gait analysis by observation, and examined its educational effects and areas for improvement. The subjects were 26 physiotherapy students. The practice content was to put a joint of the lower limb of healthy subjects into a state of pseudo-range of motion limitation by taping, determine the change in gait caused by it together with a two-dimensional motion analysis software, and further consider the reason for the change in gait. The result of evaluating the gait analysis ability before and after the practice showed that the content of the gait analysis was abstract before the practice, but after the practice, it was possible to perform an analysis using the gait cycle that was already learnt. In addition, the subjects with a high accuracy of gait analysis analyzed the movement of the lower limbs from the viewpoint of the kinematic chain and determined it while comparing it with the normal gait and the movement of the contralateral lower limbs. These facts showed that, despite the pseudo-range of limitation aspects, there was a high requirement for practice to analyze an abnormal gait. It was also inferred that, to enhance practice effects, it was important to analyze the patient’s gait from the perspective of the kinematic chain and develop the ability to interpret motor abnormalities by capturing deviations or asymmetry from a normal gait.
