Spatial-temporal parameters of gait: reference data and a statistical method for normality assessment

Spatial and temporal parameters of gait are of recognised clinical relevanc e in the assessment of motor pathologies, because they normally occur in es tablished combinations which can be altered by pathologies. The data collec ted from 596 healthy subjects have been used to establish relationships amo ng these parameters and a procedure to estimate deviation from normality ba sed on the comparison between measured values and values estimated by explo iting these relationships. The applied multiple linear regression method (M LRM) was preliminarily validated by comparing its outputs with those of cor responding equations found in the literature, and by applying it to a contr ol group of 12 healthy subjects. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.