CHANGES IN JOINT MOMENTS DUE TO INDEPENDENT CHANGES IN CADENCE AND STRIDE LENGTH DURING GAIT

The magnitude of measures derived from gait analysis depend on walking speed which must be accounted for when comparing and interpreting locomotor patterns. In the present paper it was found that speed effects on lower limb joint moments depended on whether different walking speeds were achieved predominantly by a change in cadence, or by a change in stride length. Peak sagittal plane, lower limb joint moments correlated more to cadence than to stride length. In particular, the hip flexor and extensor moments, and the knee flexor moment were more highly correlated to cadence changes. The results underscore the importance of differentiating cadence and stride length effects when interpreting locomotor patterns for subjects walking at comparable speeds. It is recommended that multiple regression models incorporating cadence and stride length effects in the equations be developed for normalizing gait measures across walking speeds.