Human Gait with Reference to Age, Gender and Impact of Load: A Review

Abstract

This review paper summarizes the available literature regarding the analysis of human gait of with reference to age and its effect on the performance. The ability to walk upright on two legs (bipedalism) is the root of what it means to be human and each person displays personal peculiarities in their walking pattern. According to the studies, muscle activity changes with the deviation of gait pattern in different condition and even for different individuals. It has been found that a vivid knowledge about the kinetics and kinematics of human gait improves the understanding of proper mechanisms of walking and has found to be helpful. Studies also suggest that the determinants of gait from decades are never closely being observed which is needed and can be productive. Gait is altered by different factors especially age, gender, working conditions etc. Walking pattern or more precisely the parameters of gait are affected by different load carriage conditions. Aging has a great impact on gait variability. With increase in age gait parameters like step length becomes smaller and step width also becomes wider, even pelvic mobility also decreases which in turn slower the walking speed. A significant difference of gait initiation speed, hip and knee angles has been found between males and females. A few studies have shown a wide range of differences of human walking pattern between different populations. It varies from country to country, even region to region in a particular country due to differences found in the body composition which is again affected by various important factors like climate, food habit, landscapes etc.