Effects of Pediatric Obesity on Joint Kinematics and Kinetics During 2 Walking Cadences

Objective: To determine whether differences existed in lower-extremity joint biomechanics during self-selected walking cadence (SW) and fast walking cadence (FW) in overweight- and normal-weight children. Design: Survey. Setting: Institutional gait study center. Participants: Participants (N=20; mean age +/- SD, 10.4 +/- 1.6y) from referred and volunteer samples were classified based on body mass index percentiles and stratified by age and sex. Exclusion criteria were a history of diabetes, neuromuscular disorder, or recent lower-extremity injury. Interventions: Not applicable. Main Outcome Measures: Sagittal, frontal, and transverse plane angular displacements (degrees) and peak moments (newton meters) at the hip, knee, and ankle joints. Results: The level of significance was set at P less than .008. Compared with normal-weight children, overweight children had greater absolute peak joint moments at the hip (flexor, extensor, abductor, external rotator), the knee (flexor, extensor, abductor, adductor, internal rotator), and the ankle (plantar-flexor, inverter, external/internal rotators). After including body weight as a covariate, overweight children had greater peak ankle dorsiflexor moments than normal-weight children. No kinematic differences existed between groups. Greater peak hip extensor moments and less peak ankle inverter moments occurred during FW than SW. There was greater angular displacement during hip flexion as well as less angular displacement at the hip (extension, abduction), knee (flexion, extension), and ankle (plantarflexion, inversion) during FW than SW. Conclusions: Overweight children experienced increased joint moments, which can have long-term orthopedic implications and suggest a need for more nonweight-bearing activities within exercise prescription. The percent of increase in joint moments from SW to FW was not different for overweight and normal-weight children. These findings can be used in developing an exercise prescription that must involve weight-bearing activity.