Gait temporospatial parameters: assessment tools for post- surgical recovery in patient with different anatomo- topographic types of lumbar disc herniation

The development in technology and informatics in the last decades enables integrated analysis of biomechanical and clinical data and facilitates the understanding of relations between human gait characteristic and different medical conditions of a patient. The aim of the study was to demonstrate the importance of gait temporospatial parameters analysis [opposite foot off, opposite foot contact, foot off, cadence, step length, walking speed, step time, step width, stride length, stride time] to quantify the response to surgical treatment for patients with lumbar disc herniation related to the anatomotopographic type of disc herniation. The study was prospective, with consecutive selection of subjects according to eligibility criteria, using a control group. The number of subjects was 64: 41 patients [61% with extensive lumbar disc hernia, 22% with paracentral lumbar disc hernia and 17% with intraforaminal lumbar disc herniation] and 23 healthy subjects. The flowchart had 2 visits: presurgical evaluation and postsurgical evaluation. The patients were evaluated clinically, imagistically and biomechanically. The biomechanical evaluation was performed with VICON MX optical motion capture system. Data of interest were temporospatial parameters of gait: opposite foot off, opposite foot contact, foot off, cadence, step length, walking speed, step time, step width, stride length, stride time. Specific statistic techniques were used in order to confirm the results. The most consistent response in terms of normalization of gait temprospatial parameters are to be observed in patients with intraforaminal herniation, followed by patients with paracentral disc herniation. The gait temprospatial parameters of patients with extensive lumbar disc herniation responded the least in terms of normalization.