초록
Objective: The arm swing is associated with gait ability in healthy young adults. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of arm swing during gait in healthy young adults. Design: Cross-sectional study. Methods: Forty-five subjects without any orthopedic or neurological injuries participated in this study. All subjects performed all three conditions according to the arm swing type as follows: first procedure (condition 1), walking as usual without arm swing constraint; second procedure (condition 2), constraint of dominant arm swing walking as usual; third procedure (condition 3), constraint of both arm swing walking as usual. Gait parameters such as gait velocity, stride length, cadence, step time, single limb support, and double limb support were measured in all arm swing conditions performed randomly, with the mean value obtained from three measurements. A rest period of 5 minutes was given to prevent repetition of each condition and learning effect. All data was analyzed using repeated measures ANOVA to notice the changes between arm swing conditions. Results: Within walking conditions, significant difference of gait velocity, stride length, cadence, and double limb support was noticed (p<0.05), except step time and single limb support. Gait velocity and stride length were significant reduced, and in cadence and double limb support were increased (p<0.05). Condition 3 had the most significant decrease of gait ability compared with condition 1 (p<0.05). Conclusions: These finding suggested that constraint arm swing conditions reduced gait ability in healthy young adults. Also, these findings can be utilized as a reference to future studies that not only pelvic, knee and ankle, but also upper limb affect to gait ability.