Review
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2017. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Orthop. Nov 18, 2017; 8(11): 815-828
Published online Nov 18, 2017. doi: 10.5312/wjo.v8.i11.815
Balance control during gait initiation: State-of-the-art and research perspectives
Eric Yiou, Teddy Caderby, Arnaud Delafontaine, Paul Fourcade, Jean-Louis Honeine
Eric Yiou, Arnaud Delafontaine, Paul Fourcade, Laboratoire CIAMS, Université Paris-Sud, Université Paris-Saclay, Orsay 91405, France
Eric Yiou, Arnaud Delafontaine, Paul Fourcade, Laboratoire CIAMS, Université d’Orléans, Orléans 45067, France
Teddy Caderby, Laboratoire IRISSE, UFR des Sciences de l’Homme et de l’Environnement, Université de la Réunion, Ile de la Réunion 97430, France
Arnaud Delafontaine, Ecole Nationale de Kinésithérapie et Rééducation, Saint Maurice 75012, France
Jean-Louis Honeine, Department of Public Health, Experimental and Forensic Medicine, University of Pavia, Pavia 27100, Italy
Author contributions: Yiou E, Caderby T, Delafontaine A, Fourcade P and Honeine JL participated in the writing of the paper and prepared the figures; Yiou E designed the outline and coordinated the paper.
Conflict-of-interest statement: There is no conflict of interest.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Eric Yiou, PhD, Associate Professor, Laboratoire CIAMS, Université Paris-Sud, Université Paris-Saclay, Bâtiment 335, Rue Pierre de Coubertin, Orsay 91440, France. eric.yiou@u-psud.fr
Telephone: +33-01-69153147 Fax: +33-01-69156222
Received: June 9, 2017
Peer-review started: June 13, 2017
First decision: August 4, 2017
Revised: August 30, 2017
Accepted: September 12, 2017
Article in press: September 13, 2017
Published online: November 18, 2017
Core Tip

Core tip: This review proposes a state-of-the-art on: (1) the balance control mechanisms in play during gait initiation in able bodied subjects and in the case of some frail populations; and (2) the biomechanical parameters used in the literature to quantify dynamic stability. The following viewpoints were put forward: (1) dynamic stability during gait initiation may share a principle of homeostatic regulation similar to most physiological variables, where separate mechanisms need to be coordinated to ensure stabilization of vital variables, and consequently; and (2) rehabilitation interventions which focus on separate or isolated components of posture, balance, or gait may limit the effectiveness of current clinical practices.