the physiological cost index and some kinematic parameters of walking and jogging in blind and sighted students

Background: vision plays an important role in supportingefficient locomotion. the present study aimed to measure thephysiological cost index (pci) and some kinematic parametersof preferred walking and jogging in blind and sighted students.methods: a cross-sectional study was conducted amongblind (n=18) and sighted (n=27) students aged 8-16 years.the following parameters were measured during a standardtest procedure: step length (meter), cadence (steps/min), meanspeed (meter/min), and the pci of preferred walking (pciw) andjogging (pcij) over a distance of 100 meters.results: univariate linear regression analysis revealed thatthe weight of an individual as well as the test duration weresignificant predictors of heart rate (hr) and pci. overall, thepci (beats/meter) of sighted (pciw=0.22±0.08 andpcij=0.24±0.07) and blind students (pciw=0.27±0.07 andpcij=0.31±0.08) were significantly different (all p≤0.05). inaddition, the speed of preferred walking (pw) in sighted studentswas significantly higher than that of the blind students (67±8versus 62.8±9 m/min; all p≤0.05), while this difference wasinsignificant in jogging mode (105±9 versus 102±11 m/min).conclusion: although the blind students were familiar with theambient environment and the walking route, they demonstrateda different pattern of pw and jogging modes with respect tokinematic parameters. we also demonstrated that the blindstudents spent more energy (i.e., pci) to achieve a lower orequal gait kinematics compared to the sighted students.