Abstracts Health Sciences

Investigation of crutch assisted walking in persons with incomplete spinal cord injury

by Bryan Chung

Due to advances in medical technology, the incidence of incomplete spinal cord injury versus complete paralysis in spinal cord injury is increasing. However, little is known about the interactions between crutch use and gait in the incomplete spinal cord injured population. This thesis presents a quantitative description of five incomplete spinal cord injured subjects who use Canadian crutches, representing a wide spectrum of gait speeds, with respect to several kinetic and kinematic factors, and focuses on describing observed interactions. Results indicate that Canadian crutches are used primarily for support, balance and braking. Peak loading on the crutches in the axial direction was observed to be between 10 and 38 percent of subjects' body weight, and seemed to be related to the magnitude of lower limb loading during the gait cycle. Peak braking forces ranged from 0.13 to 0.58 percent of body weight, where the highest braking forces were seen in the subjects with the lowest gait speeds. The use of crutches for balance was observed consistently throughout the single limb support phase in the contralateral crutch in all subjects. The relationship between vertical ground reaction forces and axial forces on the crutches is supported by kinematic data and moment analysis. It is suggested that due to common factors among all subjects in the spectrum, that there may be prerequisites such as balance or lower limb strength for assisted gait with Canadian crutches. Strategies aimed at improving these requirements may aid in efficient and successful crutch walking.