Walking Pattern Deviation in 10-15 years old Obese Children at Lady Ridgeway Hospital, Colombo.

Background and objectives Childhood obesity, a major health concern, could lead to many complications including alterations of the gait. Therefore, the aim of the study was to identify the deviation in walking pattern of 10-15 year old obese children from their non-obese counterparts. Methods A cross sectional comparative study was done at the Lady Ridgeway Hospital, Colombo involving 50 obese and 50 non-obese children aged 10-15 years. A simple random sampling method was used, and the participants were asked to walk along a 12m walkway with a 6m center recording zone, at a self-selected walking speed. The step length, stride length and cadence were measured by foot print analysis. A frontal stationary camera and a lateral running camera were used for two-dimensional walking analysis. Single limb and double limb support time was assessed by a Motion view 8.0 video analyzer using captured videos. Data was analyzed using the independent sample t test on SPSS 25. Ethics clearance was obtained from the Ethics Review Committee, Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo. Results Non-obese children had a significantly higher mean step length, right stride length, left stride length and cadence than obese children (p 0.05). Conclusion There is an association between childhood obesity and alterations in gait characteristics such as step length, stride length and cadence.