Authors:
Dalibor Kiseljak
1
;
2
and
Igor Gruić
1
Affiliations:
1
University of Zagreb, Faculty of Kinesiology, Horvaćanski zavoj 15, Zagreb, Croatia
;
2
University of Applied Health Sciences, Mlinarska cesta 38, Zagreb, Croatia
Keyword(s):
Kinematics, Gait Analysis, Photography, Two-Dimensional Motion Analysis, Perception, Education.
Abstract:
The aim of this research was to analyse observation skills through the assessment of human gait. The hypothesis was that the observation of human gait, in the way experienced practitioners do, would not provide sufficient results among novice students. The study was conducted retrospectively using the data collected during Clinical Kinesiology course, in the first semester of the academic year 2020/2021 via on-line seminars. A total of 190 first-year bachelor level physiotherapy students (120 female and 70 male) participated in the study (90 full-time and 100 part-time). Within formulated protocol (i.e., defining the gait cycle and its eight phases), each student made a video recording of a normal walk, in the sagittal plane, according to the left-to-right convention. In the second and third timepoints, everyone watched a recording of one subject, made in laboratory. Best average result was in the evaluation of the change between the fifth (pre-swing) and the sixth (initial swing) ph
ases in the knee (x̄ = 88.24%), and the best absolute result (100% correct) was achieved in the 2nd and 3rd measurement point, between the second (loading response) and third (mid stance) phase in the hip (average result of all timepoints for that change x̄ = 82.45%). The worst absolute result (10%) occurred: 1) in the change between the first (initial contact) and second (loading response) phases in the hip, and 2) in the change between the third (mid stance) and fourth (terminal stance) phases in the ankle, both in the 2nd measurement point. Students generally did not accurately assess the human gait (from the initial 43.96%, through 61.95%, to the final 62.45% distribution of correct answers), in the observational way that experienced experts do in their clinical practice, due to observational obstacles – perceptive and cognitive. Technology-free approaches are commonly used in clinical practice due to their simplicity and affordability. However, these are subjective methods, and the gap should be bridged with an objective assessment approach, e.g., video-based, or computerized 2D/3D motion analysis.
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