Comparison of ankle-muscles activity between school-aged children and young adults during gait: an electromyographic analysis

Electrocardiogram (ECG) represents, with the electroencephalogram (EEG), the principal bio-vital signals, providing information on the human physical condition. Although surface electromyogram (sEMG) is not classified as bio-vital, it is frequently used to integrate and increase information obtained from ECG and EEG, making these three signals the main electric-biological signals. The sEMG is widely used for the assessment of muscular activity during gait, providing valuable information in particular for subjects presenting impaired or non-completely developed gait, like children. Thus, this study aimed to quantify and compare lower limb muscle activity during walking in healthy, school-aged children (C-group) and young adults (A-group). The statistical analysis of tibialis anterior (TA) and gastrocnemius lateralis (GL) myoelectric signal revealed the absence of any significant difference (p>0.05) between the two groups in the activation modalities adopted by both muscles, in terms of temporal characteristics and occurrence frequency. These outcomes underline similar activation patterns for children and adults during gait, confirming the hypothesis about an achieved mature gait in 6-to-8-year-old children, also in terms of sEMG activity. The findings of this study could help for better understanding the degree of mature gait advancement in children and for discriminating muscular physiological behavior in healthy and pathological children.