Do different foot types affect the 6-min walk test capacity of younths with Charcot-Marie-Tooth neuropathy ?

Rogean de Jesus Alves de Baptista, Cyntia; Garcia, Beatriz; Cardoso, Juliana; Nascimento Elias, Adriana; Parra Buzzetti, Beatriz; Claudia Mattiello-Sverzut, Ana

<bold>Background: </bold>The present study aimed to assess the gait capacity of youths with Charcot Marie Tooth disease (CMT), considering the different foot postures as a grouping variable.  METHODS: The total distance, the predicted distance, and gait velocity obtained during the six-minute walking test (6MWT) were compared between participants with and without CMT. In addition, part of the CMT group completed a 12-month follow-up. The study evaluated 63 participants (CMT group = 31; Non-CMT group = 32) aged 6 to 18, both sexes. Data included anthropometric measures, foot posture index (FPI), the distance (D6), percentage of predicted distance (%D6), and walking velocity(V) in 6MWT.<bold>Results: </bold>The D6% presented no significant difference between the types of feet in CMT or Non-CMT (p < 0.05, Kruskal Wallis test). CMT presented reduced values of D6, %D6, and V when compared to Non-CMT.<bold>Conclusions: </bold>These findings indicate that gait performance was decreased in youths with CMT in comparison to non-CMT. Contrary to what was expected, the cavus foot type did not show lower gait capacity than the flatfoot, suggesting that the types of feet alone did not determine differences in gait capacity within the CMT group.

GAIT in humans; CHARCOT-Marie-Tooth disease; WALKING; FOOT; QUESTIONNAIRES

BMC Pediatrics, 2022, Vol 22, Issue 1, p1

1471-2431

Academic Journal

10.1186/s12887-022-03338-7