Introduction: Balance is necessary to maintain the body’s center of gravity above the support surface, which enables stable walking. The vestibular system signals the position and movement of the head. This information is integrated with other somatosensory signals in the central nervous system to form the perception of movement. The influence of altered vestibular information on walking can be studied by stimulating the vestibular system via head movement or in patients with vestibular system disorder. Purpose: We wanted to determine the effect of changes in vestibular information on the time and length variables of walking in young healthy adults and the feasibility of testing with the GAITRite walkway. Methods: The study included 22 healthy young adults aged between 20 and 30 years. Participants walked on the GAITRite® walkway under three test conditions: with the head stationary in an upright neutral position (1), with the head tilting up and down (2), and with the head turning left and right (3). Each condition was repeated three times. The conditions were arranged in random order, with breaks for verbal instructions between repetitions. We analysed walking speed, step cadence, stride length, straight variability or standard deviation, step width and step variability. Results: The average length of the stride in 1st condition was 134.5 (15.0) cm, in 2nd condition 126.4 (15.6) cm, and in 3rd condition 128.3 (14.9) cm. The difference is statistically significant (p<0.0001). The standard deviation of step width in 1st condition was 1.7 (0.6) cm, in 2nd condition 2.7 (1.0) cm and in 3rd condition 3.3 (0.9) cm. The difference between conditions is statistically significant (p<0.0001). Walking speed, cadence, standard deviation of stride length and step width did not change statistically significantly between conditions. Discussion and conclusion: Walking with head movement resulted in statistically significantly decreased stride length, and the standard deviation of step width increased, indicating greater variability in step width. Testing with a pressure mat is feasible, but providing more space around the pressure mat would be more optimal.
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