Term of Award

Spring 2017

Degree Name

Master of Science in Kinesiology (M.S.)

Document Type and Release Option

Thesis (open access)

Copyright Statement / License for Reuse

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Department

Department of Health and Kinesiology

Committee Chair

Li Li

Committee Member 1

Brandon Harris

Committee Member 2

Barry Munkasy

Abstract

Research has been conducted on the effect of diaper perturbation versus unclothed on gait, but there is little research on different diaper perturbations on gait. PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to examine how physical perturbations (dry and wet diaper and underwear) affected 13 to 19 month old infant’s gait. METHODS: Sixty infants (13-19 month old) were recruited for the study. Five trials for 3 conditions (dry and wet diaper and underwear) were conducted on a GaitRite walkway. Step length (m/step), cadence (steps/s), support base (m) and stance time (sec) were analyzed. A mixed model with repeated measures along with Tukey post hoc test and the Cohen d was used to examine the effect size. RESULTS: For stance time, there was a significant difference between the 13 month old infants with underwear (0.3874±0.0109) and 19 month old infants in wet diaper (0.2761±0.0102). For step length, significant main effect was found for age between 13 month old infants (23.511±.26) and 19 month old infants (31.849±.2432). For support base, significant main effect was found for age between 13 months (12.508±.1732) and 19 months (9.682±.1621) and conditions within the underwear (9.991±.1554) dry diaper (10.618±.1554), and wet diaper (11.245±.1554). For cadence, significant main effect was found for age between 13 months (194.2±3.4988) and 19 months (299.1±3.2728) and conditions within the dry diaper (217.29±2.4255) and underwear (208.08±2.4255). CONCLUSION: It is important to understand the affects perturbation has on infant gait to better equip the infant with diapers that do not affect their natural balance.

Research Data and Supplementary Material

Yes

Download

Share

COinS