Alterations of Pregnant Gait during Pregnancy and Post-Partum

Abstract

Physique changes during pregnancy lead to gait characteristic variations. This study aimed to analyse gait of pregnant individuals throughout pregnancy and post-partum. Sixteen healthy pregnant women volunteered as participants and had their lower limb kinematics analysed through a VICON three-dimensional motion system and plantar pressure measured with a Novel EMED force plate. Significant changes were observed in pelvic anterior motion, hip and ankle joint kinematics. Mean pressure distribution and COP trajectory deviation altered accordingly with increased pregnancy time, compared with post-partum. This longitudinal study of pregnant gait biomechanics in T2, T3 and PP reveals lower extremity kinematic and foot pressure alterations to adapt to pregnancy related changes, and the COP trajectory highlights a falling risk during pregnancy, particularly in T3.

Figure 1

Mean angle curve (with SD) of ankle, pelvis and hip in a gait cycle (T2-solid black line, T3-dashed red line, and PP-dot blue line) with vertical lines indicating the stance phase and red rectangles highlighting peak value significance.

Figure 2

Comparison of mean pressure (a), contact area (b) among T2, T3 and PP. ^#Represents significance between T2 and T3, ^&represents significance between T3 and PP, and *represents significance between T2 and PP.

Figure 3

The illustration of COP trajectory, with indication of time (%) and velocity (cm/s), in different phases of stance. The solid black line, dashed red line and dot blue line respectively represents T2, T3 and PP. The ICP, FFCP, FFP and FFPOP means initial contact phase, forefoot contact phase, foot flat phase and forefoot push off phase, respectively. ^#Represents significance between T2 and T3, ^&represents significance between T3 and PP, and *represents significance between T2 and PP.

Figure 4

The illustration of cut-off points (i to vi) for stance phase division. (i, heel first contact; ii, one of the metatarsals contact; iii, all metatarsals head contact; iv, full foot contact; v, heel off; vi, toes off).