Director, Dept Orthotics/Prosthetics; Associate Professor Lurie Childrens; Northwestern University
In treating both children and adults in orthotics, it is essential to have a firm understanding of typical and atypical gait patterns. But how is gait developed? What are the major characteristics of a developing gait pattern?
Children learn to walk as they gain triplanar postural stability from head to toe. Through postural control development and gross motor skill attainment, children develop improved integration of their sensory systems, muscle balance and both dynamic and reactive balance.
This lecture describes the necessary development to achieve a mature, energy efficient gait pattern. Orthotic intervention should lead to gait progression, not just the alleviation of a particular gait deviation. Understanding typical gait development and how children adapt their movement patterns early in their development and then use these same “go-to strategies for stability” later in walking will help pediatric orthotists to design their orthotic treatment plan and then to assess the effectiveness of their orthotic intervention.