Evaluation of the Effects of Prescribing Gait Complexity Using Several Fluctuating Timing Imperatives

Abstract

Variability in the temporal structure of gait patterns, measured by “Fractal Index” (FI), is thought to represent abundancy of movement patterns facilitating adaptive control of walking. However we do not know how FI changes according to different walking rhythms or if this is repeatable, as needed to exploit the paradigm for rehabilitation. Fourteen healthy young adults synchronised heel contact to an auditory metronome twice each in four conditions (uncued, white noise, pink noise, and red noise) and three sessions. FI differed based on the walking condition while no effect of session was revealed. The results of this study suggest gait fractality changes systematically with different stimuli and can be consistently prescribed in a desired direction within a group of healthy young individuals.

Keywords:

• gait
• complexity
• fractals
• adaptability

Disclosure statement

The authors confirm there are no conflicts of interest and that all authors have contributed to the production of the manuscript and have approved the final article.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Canadian Foundation for Innovation (CFI) and Ontario Research fund, under grant # 12914.