Am. Boonstra et al., WALKING SPEED OF NORMAL SUBJECTS AND AMPUTEES - ASPECTS OF VALIDITY OF GAIT ANALYSIS, Prosthetics and orthotics international, 17(2), 1993, pp. 78-82
This study investigated some aspects of the validity of walking speed
recording in 15 normal subjects. 16 trans-femoral empathics and 8 knee
disarticulation amputees. The variability and test-retest reliability
of walking speed and the influence of simultaneous recording of EMG a
nd goniometry on comfortable and fast walking speeds were studied. The
variability between sessions was mainly determined by the variance wi
thin each session. The variance of speed within sessions while walking
with fast speed, was higher when walking without equipment than when
walking with equipment. The variances of speed within sessions. of the
normal subjects were higher than those for both amputee groups. The t
est-retest reliability, expressed by the intra-class correlation coeff
icient, was good: between 0.83 and 0.98. The speed when walking withou
t equipment was significantly higher both in normal subjects and amput
ees than the speed when walking with equipment.