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An Instrument To Measure Independent Walking: Are There Differences Between Preterm and Fullterm Infants?Faculty of Human Movement Sciences Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam
Academical Medical Center, Department of Pediatrics University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Department of Psychology Lancaster University, Lancaster, UK In clinical practice walking independently has always been considered a major milestone in development. Nevertheless, little attention has been paid to the quality of movement expressed in the first attempts at walking free. Even when children achieve walking within a normal time range, some of them show features that are deviant. Early walking is difficult to judge, but at the same time may provide a sensitive means for detecting possible developmental impairments. The main aim of this paper is to provide a standardized clinical instrument for the qualitative assessment of early walking in a structured free field situation and to compare preterm and fullterm infants. All subjects were assessed 14 days after being able to walk 5 meters independently. The study group consisted of 52 children, of whom 33 were born prematurely (further distinguished in terms of being small- or appropriate-for-gestational age), and 19 were born fullterm. Judgments of walking performance were made in terms of optimal, near-optimal, near-poor, or poor. After correction for age, the preterm group was still later in the onset of walking, but more importantly, showed a qualitatively different pattern of locomotion. Those who were the youngest and small-for-gestational age were overrepresented in the near-poor and poor categories of walking. (J Child Neurol 1997;12:37-41).
Journal of Child Neurology, Vol. 12, No. 1,
37-41 (1997) This article has been cited by other articles:
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