Improved gait of 100 Pediatric Blind and low Vision Patients: One of the Best Oral Presentations at VISION 2025!

We have two papers accepted! This one, Improved gait of 100 Pediatric Blind and low Vision Patients Once Wearing a Pediatric Belt Cane was selected as one of the Best Oral Presentations at the 15th Low Vision Research and Rehabilitation Congress!

Authors: Chong, P., Bakshi, I., Enzenauer, R., and Ambrose-Zaken, G

Abstract

Purpose:

Walking is the currency of childhood development and blind toddlers lack sufficient vision needed to attain their milestones. Studies of children with/without handheld assistive safety devices documented the unhealthy walking outcomes associated with congenital blindness or low vision that causes children to trip over obstacles, fall down drop-offs, demonstrate inefficient gait, poor posture, and poor overall physical activity. We compared gait outcomes in 100 blind and low vision children aged 8 to 156 months (m=38.6 mos, SD=23.92) before and once wearing an assistive safety device, the Safe Toddles Pediatric Belt Cane (PBC).

Methods:

Gait mechanics were analyzed using the open-source body-tracking machine-learning, MediaPipe on videos of 100 patients with a visual impairment under two PBC conditions, notably at initial evaluation (week 0”, before the PBC) and later (ex. 8 weeks into treatment wearing the PBC). The right and left feet were selected as body landmarks of interest in tracking patients’ walking and gait and metrics were identified and defined for gait analysis. Subsequent analyses calculated metrics for foot mobility, step speed, frequency, and length.

Results:

Paired sample t-test showed a significant difference in step frequency (t=-9.30, df=99, p<.001) and foot mobility (t=-4.94, df=99, p<.001). A subset of subjects had no physical motor impairment (n=87, m=38.7mos, SD=24.8), showed significant improvement across all four measures foot mobility (t=-11.19, df=86, p<.001); step speed (t=-12.38, df=86, p<.001); frequency (t=8.83, df=84, p<.001) and length (t=-3.21, df=82, p<.001). Subjects’ percent improvement in mobility (66.5%, p<.001), in step speed (62.8%, p<.001), length (53.1%, p<.001) and frequency (2.87%, p<.001) when walking.

Conclusions:

Wearing the PBC reduced direct bodily collisions, thereby improved safety of early blind walking. The cane frame also provided consistent information about objects, surface changes, and drop-offs in the path ahead. The combined improvement in protection and path information made possible through wearing the rectangular cane frame with omni wheel tips resulted in better walking outcomes across all subjects. The smaller group of subjects who were motor delayed, but not physically motorically impaired, not only increased the frequency of steps, but took more, longer, and faster steps compared to when they walked without the PBC.