The development of gait: a study in African children ages one to five.

The purpose of this study was to describe quantitatively the gait development of a group of African children to determine how the pattern changes would relate to growth and maturation. This work applies an established technology of gait analysis to field conditions. 65 children of the Gusii tribe from southwestern Kenya were selected for study with an age range from 13 months to 69 months. Gait evaluation was performed by film recording free-cadence walking of the children. Growth in stature and age both influence the gait patterns. Developmental patterns of alteration in velocity, stride length, and cadence quantitatively measured in this study closely parallel observations made on children in laboratory settings by other workers.