Research Article
Effect of Dual-Task Conditions on Gait Performance during
Timed Up and Go Test in Children with Traumatic Brain Injury
Rabiatul Adawiah Abdul Rahman ,
1
Fazira Rafi,
1
Fazah Akhtar Hanapiah,
2,3
Azlina Wati Nikmat,
4
Nor Azira Ismail,
5
and Haidzir Manaf
1,3
1
Centre of Physiotherapy, Faculty of Health Sciences, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Puncak Alam Campus,
42300 Puncak Alam, Selangor, Malaysia
2
Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Sungai Buloh Campus,
47000 Sungai Buloh, Selangor, Malaysia
3
Clinical and Rehabilitation Exercise Research Group, Faculty of Health Sciences, Universiti Teknologi MARA,
Puncak Alam Campus, 42300 Puncak Alam, Selangor, Malaysia
4
Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Sungai Buloh Campus,
47000 Sungai Buloh, Selangor, Malaysia
5
Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Hospital Sungai Buloh, Jalan Hospital, 47000 Sungai Buloh, Selangor, Malaysia
Correspondence should be addressed to Haidzir Manaf; haidzir5894@puncakalam.uitm.edu.my
Received 29 April 2018; Revised 1 August 2018; Accepted 18 September 2018; Published 4 October 2018
Academic Editor: Stephen Sprigle
Copyright © 2018 Rabiatul Adawiah Abdul Rahman et al. Tis is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons
Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is
properly cited.
Background. Tasks requiring simultaneous mobility and cognition (dual tasks) have been associated with incidence of falls.
Although these defcits have been documented in individuals with neurologic disorder, the efect of dual task in children with
traumatic brain injury has not been fully explored. Objective. To investigate the efect of dual-task (dual-motor and dual-cognitive
task) conditions on spatiotemporal gait parameters during timed up and go test in children with traumatic brain injury. Methods
and Material. A total of 14 children with traumatic brain injury and 21 typically developing children participated in this case-control
study. Functional balance was assessed before the actual testing to predict the risk of falls. Timed up and go test was performed
under single-task and dual-task (dual-motor and dual-cognitive task) conditions. Spatiotemporal gait parameters were determined
using the APDM Mobility Lab system. Te descriptive statistics and t-test were used to analyze demographic characteristics and
repeated measure ANOVA test was used to analyze the gait parameters. Results. Under dual-task (dual-motor and dual-cognitive
task) conditions during the timed up and go test, gait performance signifcantly deteriorated. Furthermore, the total time to
complete the timed up and go test, stride velocity, cadence, and step time during turning were signifcantly diferent between
children with traumatic brain injury and typically developing children. Conclusions. Tese fndings suggest that gait parameters were
compromised under dual-task conditions in children with traumatic brain injury. Dual-task conditions may become a component
of gait training to ensure a complete and comprehensive rehabilitation program.
1. Introduction
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is one of the most common
causes of disability among children worldwide with an esti-
mation of 3 million children experiencing TBI yearly [1]. TBI
may cause long-term limitations in mobility and activities
such as walking depending on the severity of the impair-
ments. Characteristics of gait abnormalities among children
with TBI include slower gait speed, decreased cadence,
shorter stride lengths, and increased gait variability [2, 3].
In addition, step length variability has been reported to be
consistently higher in those with TBI than in healthy controls,
possibly because of the greater challenges in maintaining
dynamic stability during gait, especially when performing
more challenging tasks [4]. Increased step length variability
decreases balance performance in children with TBI [2, 3].
Hindawi
Rehabilitation Research and Practice
Volume 2018, Article ID 2071726, 7 pages
https://doi.org/10.1155/2018/2071726