A Study of Gait Patterns in Patients with Low Back Pain

요통환자의 보행패턴에 관한 연구

Gait is a highly complex activity in which many variables can be observed and measured. Walking is a repetitious sequence of limb to move the body and to maintain stability. Normal gait is rhythmic and characterized by alternating propulsive and retropulsive motions of the lower extremities. Pathological gait patterns have four functional categories (deformity, muscle weakness, impaired control, pain). The purpose of this study was to assess the quantitive gait variables(the width of the base, length of a step, stride length, cadence, velocity) in patients with low back pain. Patients walked more slowly, took shorter steps and did not show the symmetrical gait patterns.