Determination of the minimum number of steps for assessment of plantar pressure in gait of children, adults and older adults

Marcos R. Kunzler; Cristiane F. Moro; Pedro S. Franco; Renato R. Azevedo; Emmanuel S. da Rocha; Felipe P. Carpes

doi:10.20338/bjmb.v19i1.521

Determination of the minimum number of steps for assessment of plantar pressure in gait of children, adults and older adults

Authors

Marcos R. Kunzler Applied Neuromechanics Research Group, Federal University of Pampa, Uruguaiana, RS, Brazil - [email protected] https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1448-5670
Cristiane F. Moro Applied Neuromechanics Research Group, Federal University of Pampa, Uruguaiana, RS, Brazil https://orcid.org/0009-0004-5526-8239
Pedro S. Franco Applied Neuromechanics Research Group, Federal University of Pampa, Uruguaiana, RS, Brazil https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0991-9462
Renato R. Azevedo Applied Neuromechanics Research Group, Federal University of Pampa, Uruguaiana, RS, Brazil https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6297-508X
Emmanuel S. da Rocha Applied Neuromechanics Research Group, Federal University of Pampa, Uruguaiana, RS, Brazil; Biomechanics Study Group (NEB), Graduate Program in Health Technology, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Paraná, Curitiba, PR, Brazil https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2452-7600
Felipe P. Carpes Applied Neuromechanics Research Group, Federal University of Pampa, Uruguaiana, RS, Brazil https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8923-4855

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.20338/bjmb.v19i1.521

Keywords:

Child, Aging, Foot joints, Kinetics , Biomechanics

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Plantar pressure provides useful information for the study of locomotion. Such measure is often conducted based on average of different number of steps. Previous studies are not clear regarding the minimum number of observations to reduce group variability in determination of peak pressures, especially when comparing people in different age groups.

AIM: To determine the minimum number of steps required to determine peak pressure in different regions of the foot during the gait of people from different age groups.

METHODS: Children (n=12), adults (n=13) and older adults (n=12) underwent measurements of plantar pressure using a Matscan pressure mapping system for two days, while walking barefoot at their preferred gait speed. Peak pressure was determined for 10 steps in each of the days of assessment and analyzed considering foot regions of rearfoot, midfoot and forefoot. Peak pressure variability was determined considering data from two to ten steps.

RESULTS: Four steps measurements showed the lower variability in peak pressure in participants from different age groups. Although variability in rearfoot showed to be higher, the minimal number of steps we determined was useful to determine peak pressure across the different regions of the foot.

INTERPRETATION: The determination of peak pressure in assessment of gait in able bodied participants from different age groups can consider data recorded from four steps.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Downloads

PDF
HTML

Published

2025-12-31

How to Cite

Kunzler, M. R., Moro, C. F., Franco, P. S., Azevedo, R. R., da Rocha, E. S., & Carpes, F. P. (2025). Determination of the minimum number of steps for assessment of plantar pressure in gait of children, adults and older adults. Brazilian Journal of Motor Behavior, 19(1), e521. https://doi.org/10.20338/bjmb.v19i1.521

Download Citation

Issue

Vol. 19 No. 1 (2025)

Section

Research articles

License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Authors must declare that the work submitted is their own and that copyright has not been breached in seeking its publication. If the manuscript includes work previously published elsewhere, it is the author(s) responsibility to obtain permission to use it and to indicate that such permission has been granted.

Authors retain the copyright of their paper and grant the Brazilian Journal of Motor Behavior (BJMB) the right to first publish the work under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license (CC BY-NC-ND). This license allows users to share the paper given the appropriate credit to the author and source and does not allow commercial uses and derivative materials to be produced.