Gait pattern in 9-11-year-old children with generalized joint hypermobility compared with controls; a cross-sectional study

Background: To study differences in gait patterns in 10-year-old children with Generalized Joint Hypermobility
(GJH) and with no GJH (NGJH).

Methods: A total of 37 children participated (19 GJH, 18 NGJH, mean age 10.2 (SD 0.5) years). Inclusion criteria for
GJH were a Beighton score of ≥5, with at least one hypermobile knee joint; for NGJH a Beighton score of ≤4, and
no hypermobile knees and for both groups no knee pain during the previous week. All children were recorded by
five video cameras, while they walked across three force platforms. Net joint moments were calculated in 3D by
inverse dynamics and peak values provided input to statistical analyses.

Results: In the frontal plane, children with GJH had a significantly lower peak knee abductor moment and peak hip
abductor moment. In the sagittal plane, the peak knee flexor moment and the peak hip extensor moment were
significantly lower in the GJH group although the absolute difference was small.

Conclusions: The walking pattern was the same for children with GJH and for healthy children, as there were no
differences in kinematics, but it was, however, performed with different kinetics. Children with GJH walked with
lower ankle, knee and hip joint moments compared to children with NGJH. However, the clinical importance of
these differences during normal gait is unknown. To obtain this knowledge, children with GJH must be followed
longitudinally.