Art # 345 pp. 2289. – 2291

Abstract

Problem statement. Many people practice dance and we can see the difference in gait patterns between professional dancers and non-dancers in different previously studies, but there are many people who practiced dance in a not professional way for many years. So the question is: are there differences in gait patterns also in people who practiced dance in a non-professional way? Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the difference, in gait patterns, between qualified dancers and non-dancers using an optoelectronic system and force platforms. The dancers in question are not professional, but we want to evaluate if there are difference in gait patterns in women who practiced dance for many years. Methods. The sample is composed of six female dancers, average age 22.83 years, average height 163.83 cm and average weight 56 Kg. The dancers performed 10 walking trials at their preferred speed. The kinematic and kinetic data have been recorded with an optoelectronic motion system (BTS Bioengineering) and two force platforms positioned at the middle of the walkway. The markers have been positioned following the Davis protocol. SMART software has been used to process the tests and to create the final report. Results: There are no significant differences in gait patterns except about the double support and the width of the step. All data differ from normality with a percentage less than 5%, but double support differs more (right cycle 9,85%, left cycle 7,22%) such as step width (60,51%). About kinematics on the sagittal plane, we see differences in the pelvic tilt which moves foreversion for all the cycle and in ankle because during dorsiflexion it is always a little more during the two peaks (≈ 40%; ≈ 80%). On transverse plan, we can see a little increase in internal rotation of the knee and an extra-rotation in foot progression. About kinetics, we have data only about the sagittal plane. It just shows a delay in vertical GRF between the 10% and the 20% of the cycle. Discussion. We can assert that all these modification of gait patterns originate from the activity that dancers carried out. All of these are attributable to a compensation that they execute for a more efficient gait. Conclusions. Looking at the data we can assert that these are very interesting because, as we supposed, we can see differences at pelvis, knee and ankle/foot. It should be important to have a larger sample to have more data for a better comparison