Characteristics of Dynamic Stability during Gait Initiation in Patients after Femoral Proximal Fracture Surgery

Analysis with Anticipatory Postural Adjustments(APA) and Spatio-temporal Parameter

Abstract

The acquisition of stable gait initiation in patients after femoral proximal fracture surgery is considered important from the viewpoint of preventing re-falls and re-fractures, but there have been no previous studies that have clarified the characteristics of such movements. In this study, we measured the gait initiation movements of six postoperative patients with femoral proximal fracture and four healthy elderly subjects, and evaluated the mediolateral margins of stability (ML MOS), anticipatory postural adjustments (APA), and spatio-temporal parameters were compared between the two groups and between the patients’ legs. The results showed that step length and step speed of swing leg (SW step speed) were significantly lower in postoperative patients with femoral proximal fracture than in healthy elderly patients, but there were no significant differences in ML MOS, APA and step width.