U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
Date of this Version
2010
Document Type
Article
Citation
Journal of Vascular Surgery, Volume 51, Issue 1, January 2010, Pages 80-88; doi:10.1016/j.jvs.2009.07.117
Abstract
Objectives: Symptomatic peripheral arterial disease (PAD) results in significant gait impairment. In an attempt to fully delineate and quantify these gait alterations, we analyzed joint kinematics, torques (rotational forces), and powers (rotational forces times angular velocity) in patients with PAD with unilateral claudication for both the affected and nonaffected legs.
Methods: Twelve patients with unilateral PAD (age, 61.69 ± 10.53 years, ankle-brachial index [ABI]: affected limb 0.59 ± 0.25; nonaffected limb 0.93± 0.12) and 10 healthy controls (age, 67.23 ± 12.67 years, ABI >1.0 all subjects) walked over a force platform to acquire gait kinetics, while joint kinematics were recorded simultaneously. Data were collected for the affected and nonaffected limbs during pain free (PAD-PF) and pain induced (PAD-P) trials. Kinetics and kinematics were combined to quantify torque and powers during the stance period from the hip, knee, and ankle joints.
Results: The affected limb demonstrated significantly (PPPP <.05).
Conclusion: Patients with PAD with unilateral claudication demonstrate significant gait impairments in both limbs that are present even before they experience any claudication symptoms. Overall, our data demonstrate significantly reduced ankle plantar flexion torque and power during late stance with reduced knee power during early and mid-stance for the affected limb. Further studies are needed to determine if these findings are dependent on the location and the severity of lower extremity ischemia and whether the changes in the nonaffected limb are the result of underlying PAD or compensatory changes from the affected limb dysfunction.