story by Claire Miller
Down syndrome (DS) is the most common genetic condition that causes physical, cognitive and language developmental delays, including how children learn to walk.
Children with DS often take shorter, wider steps and may prefer a slower walking speed than typically developing children, due to underdeveloped balance control and increased stability challenges they face.
But are there ways to improve their walking stability?
Jerry Wu, professor and chair of the College of Education & Human Development’s (CEHD) Department of Kinesiology and Health, CEHD alum Matthew Beerse (M.S. '14, Ph.D. '18) and doctoral student Tasnuva Alam conducted a study on walking stability in children with and without DS.
Twenty-four children, ages 7-12 years, participated in this study – 12 children with DS paired with 12 typically developing peers who were the same age and gender.
Each child was instructed to walk barefoot on a walkway at two speeds: Their normal walking speed and their fastest walking speed (as fast as possible without running). The research team also tested these two speeds while the children walk with additional weights that were attached above their ankles and weighed two percent of their body mass.
To collect data on their walking stability, the researchers attached 18 retroreflective markers in multiple places on each child's body, from their heels, toes and ankles up to their elbows, shoulders and head. The researchers captured the children's movement on the walkway using an eight-camera Vicon motion capture system, which created digital models of each participant’s walking.
These models were instrumental in identifying each child’s margin of stability (MOS) – the distance between someone’s base of support, or their feet, and their center of mass, where a person’s body weight is balanced.
The study’s results, published in the journal Clinical Biomechanics, indicate that children with DS benefitted from increased walking speeds and the use of ankle weights when walking.
“In response to increasing walking speed and addition of ankle weights, children with DS have the capacity to modify MOS in a similar pattern as their typically developing peers,” they wrote. “These task manipulations might be considered for physical interventions, as they could challenge the balance control of children with DS during gait.”