Effect of Dual-Task Conditions on Gait Performance during Timed Up and Go Test in Children with Traumatic Brain Injury

Background: Tasks requiring simultaneous mobility and cognition (dual tasks) have been associated with incidence of falls. Although these deficits have been documented in individuals with neurologic disorder, the effect of dual task in children with traumatic brain injury has not been fully explored.

Objective: To investigate the effect 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. The 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 significantly deteriorated. Furthermore, the total time to complete the timed up and go test, stride velocity, cadence, and step time during turning were significantly different between children with traumatic brain injury and typically developing children.

Conclusions: These findings 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.