A quantitative analysis of gait patterns in vestibular neuritis patients using gyroscope sensor and a continuous walking protocol

Background: locomotion involves an integration of vision,proprioception,and vestibular information. the parieto-insular vestibular cortex is known to affect the supra-spinal rhythm generators,and the vestibular system regulates anti-gravity muscle tone of the lower leg in the same side to maintain an upright posture through the extra-pyramidal track. to demonstrate the relationship between locomotion and vestibular function,we evaluated the differences in gait patterns between vestibular neuritis (vn) patients and normal subjects using a gyroscope sensor and long-way walking protocol. methods. gyroscope sensors were attached to both shanks of healthy controls (n=10) and age-matched vn patients (n = 10). we then asked the participants to walk 88.8 m along a corridor. through the summation of gait cycle data,we measured gait frequency (hz),normalized angular velocity (nav) of each axis for legs,maximum and minimum nav,up-slope and down-slope of nav in swing phase,stride-swing-stance time (s),and stance to stride ratio (%). results: the most dominant walking frequency in the vn group was not different compared to normal control. the navs of z-axis (pitch motion) were significantly larger than the others (x-,y-axis) and the values in vn patients tended to decrease in both legs and the difference of nav between both group was significant in the ipsi-lesion side in the vn group only (p=0.03). additionally,the gait velocity of these individuals was decreased relatively to controls (1.11 ± 0.120 and 0.84 ± 0.061 m/s in control and vn group respectively,p<0.01),which seems to be related to the significantly increased stance and stride time of the ipsi-lesion side. moreover,in the vn group,the maximum nav of the lesion side was less,and the minimum one was higher than control group. furthermore,the down-slope and up-slope of nav decreased on the impaired side. conclusion: the walking pattern of vn patients was highly phase-dependent,and nav of pitch motion was significantly decreased in the ipsi-lesion side. the change of gait rhythm,stance and stride time,and maximum/minimum nav of the ipsi-lesion side were characteristics of individuals with vn. © 2014 kim et al.; licensee biomed central ltd.