How the type of sagittal alignment defined by Roussouly determines the gait of asymptomatic adult subject

Abstract

While curvatures of the sagittal spine are known to greatly differ among asymptomatic adult subjects, there are no studies that determine whether this heterogeneous normality affects gait. This study aimed to elucidate the relationships between normal sagittal spine profiles and gait in asymptomatic adult subjects. Ninety-one asymptomatic adult subjects (age = 21.6 ±2.2, 47 M & 44F) with no prior orthopedic treatment underwent full body biplanar X rays with 3D reconstruction of the spine and pelvis. The following sagittal spino-pelvic parameters were generated from the 3D reconstructions: pelvic incidence, sacral slope, pelvic tilt, L1L5 lordosis, L1-S1 lordosis, T1-T12 kyphosis and T4-T2 kyphosis. Lower limb kinematics was assessed using 3D gait analysis. Each subject was classified into one of the 4 types of normal sagittal alignment previously described by Roussouly. Kruskal-Wallis test was used to evaluate the differences in gait and spino-pelvic parameters between the Roussouly types.