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19-Mar-2025
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Arch Hellen Med, 42(3), May-June 2025, 390-396 ORIGINAL PAPER The effects of abdominal obesity on the heel strike transient during walking E. Paraskevopoulos,1,2 T. Tsatalas,3 R. Levantinou,3 G. Giakas3 |
OBJECTIVE To identify whether abdominal weights increase heel strike transients (HST) in healthy individuals.
METHOD Ten experimental subjects (mean age 27.5±8.84) with external weights placed on their abdomen, under specific experimental conditions, walked over a 9.5 walkway instrumented with a Bertec force plate at a self-selected low and high speed. Friedman's ANOVA test was used to detect any significant differences between conditions on the HST, the first and second peak maximum, the contact time and the loading rate.
RESULTS The HST changed significantly only when the subjects increased their gait speed. However, the first maximum force peak increased significantly when the external weights were placed on them, under specific experimental conditions. The second maximum force peak decreased significantly when the external weights were placed on the subjects, under specific experimental conditions.
CONCLUSIONS Abdominal weight may not affect the size of the HST and rates of loading in healthy individuals. However, the first maximum force may increase on healthy participants.
Key words: Cartilage, Force plate, Gait analysis, Knee, Osteoarthritis.
