Trajetória do centro de massa na marcha humana normal em ambiente aquático

Abstract

Water based exercises have been largely adopted in rehabilitation programs. Among them, walking in water is one of the most popular. For this reason, biomechanical characterization of walking in water have been done by investigating joint angles, joint moments, ground reaction forces and electromyographic activation patterns. Despite of this, very few is known about motor control strategies employed by the central nervous system (CNS) during walking in water. It is well known that control of body center of mass (BCOM) during gait is strongly related to posture and balance. In this sense, examination of the BCOM displacement during gait provides information about dynamic stability control and CNS strategies to achieve it. Therefore, the aim of this work was to investigate the behavior of BCOM during walking in water, comparing its characteristics with those on dry land. To do this, nineteen male healthy adults were videotaped while walking at self-selected speeds on land and in water at the Xiphoid-process level. Markers were placed over anatomical landmarks, their coordinates were recovered and position of BCOM was calculated through a segmental analysis method. Beside the usual BCOM characteristics such as vertical excursion and horizontal velocity, the horizontal distance between the BCOM and the point of support was calculated. During the single stance phase, such distance provides a measure of stability. Among the results, it was possible to observe differences between the form of BCOḾs trajectory in water and dry land. This property might indicate that the interchange of potential and kinectic energies is different in water environment. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2007.