2025 Volume 16 Issue 1 Pages 1_13-1_20
Objective: This study aimed to identify key observation points that enable physical therapy students to accurately identify the causes of abnormal gait through observational gait analysis.
Methods: Participants were 25 fourth-year physical therapy students who responded to a self-administered questionnaire survey regarding their analysis of simulation videos of abnormal gait. After stratifying the responses based on accurately and inaccurately reasoned (correct and incorrect, respectively) answers, the descriptive content was subjected to quantitative text analysis.
Results: In correspondence analysis, key terms associated with correct answers included “foot sole,” “toe off,” and “knee joint,” whereas incorrect answers included the terms “trunk,” “hip joint,” “normal,” and “comparison.” Co-occurrence network analysis showed that the terms “right,” “left,” and “comparison” co-occurred in both correct and incorrect responses, whereas “normal” co-occurred in only the incorrect analyses.
Conclusion: To ascertain the causes of abnormal gait, it is important to consider lateral differences and undertake comparisons with normal gait. However, for fourth-year students, lower limb peripheral movements constitute a crucial observation point in the analysis of abnormal gait.
