Abstract
Impaired balance during walking is a common problem in people with incomplete spinal cord injury (iSCI). To improve walking capacity, it is crucial to characterize balance control and how it is affected in this population. The foot placement strategy, a dominant mechanism to maintain balance in the mediolateral (ML) direction during walking, can be affected in people with iSCI due to impaired sensorimotor control. This study aimed to determine if the ML foot placement strategy is impaired in people with iSCI compared to healthy controls.This data collection includes data from individuals with iSCI (n = 28) and healthy controls (n = 19) who performed a two-minute walk test at a self-paced walking speed on an instrumented treadmill. Healthy controls performed one extra test at a fixed speed set at 50% of their preferred speed. To study the foot placement strategy of a participant, linear regression was used to predict the ML foot placement based on the ML center of mass position and velocity. The accuracy of the foot placement strategy was evaluated by the root mean square error between the predicted and actual foot placements and was referred to as foot placement deviation. To confirm adherence to the foot placement strategy, the goodness of the fit of the linear regression model was evaluated with the coefficient of determination, here referred to as foot placement adherence. In addition, the within-subject standard deviation of actual foot placement was determined. Step width was selected as a secondary outcome measure.
