WALKING CADENCE EFFECT ON PLANTAR PRESSURES

Objective: Prior studies have examined the effect of cadence on ground reaction forces by use of a force plate. Force plate studies generall y analyze isolated steps and do not provide insight into ongoing step- to-step variations or in-shoe plantar pressures. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of walking cadences on in-shoe plant ar pressures over extended periods of continuous walking. Design: Nonr andomized control trial. Setting: Laboratory. Patients or Other Partic ipants: Volunteer sample of 8 able-bodied subjects. Interventions: In- shoe plantar pressures were studied during four minutes of continuous walking at controlled cadences of 70, 80, 90, 100, 110, and 120steps/m in. For each cadence more than 200 steps were analyzed for each of the 8 subjects. Main Outcome Measures: Pressure-time integrals, foot-to-f loor contact durations, and peak pressures at all 14 locations were pr ocessed for each step. Changes were calculated compared to values at 7 0steps/min. Results: With increasing cadence, mean pressure-time integ rals continuously decreased (45% at 120steps/min); mean foot-to-floor contact durations continuously decreased (64% at 120steps/min); and me an peak pressures increased (119% at 120steps/min). Conclusions: Our r esults show that as walking cadence increases, pressure-time integrals and foot-to-floor contact durations decrease, and peak plantar pressu res increase. This is clinically relevant to all kinetic gait studies because our results suggest that normal values should be established f or each cadence. (C) 1995 by the American Congress of Rehabilitation M edicine and the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitati on.