The chronic effects of concussion on gait

Objective: To examine the effects of concussion on gait patterns of young adults with and without a history of concussion during single- and dual-task paradigms.

Design: Cross-sectional evaluation.

Setting: A research laboratory.

Participants: Persons with (n=28; mean, 6.32y postinjury) and without (n=40) a concussion history.

Intervention: Not applicable.

Main outcome measures: A battery of gait analyses during single- and dual-task conditions. Normalized velocity, step length, stride width, number correct from cognitive task, time in single-leg stance, and time in double-leg stance were the variables of interest. Gait was analyzed using an electronic walkway system, and the Brooks visuospatial cognitive task was used to index cognition.

Results: Data analyses using multiple 2-way repeated-measures analyses of variance and correlations indicated that participants with a history of concussion spent significantly more time in a double-leg stance and significantly decreased time in a single-leg stance and had slower gait velocity. There also was a significant negative correlation between number of concussions and time in single-leg stance and positive correlations between number of concussions and time in double-leg stance and double-stance percent.

Conclusion: These findings suggest that persons with a history of concussion adopt a more conservative gait strategy.