Background

In-toeing is one of the main reasons children are applying to the orthopedics clinic. In the clinical settings, during in-toeing gait assessment parents often define that their child does not walk same at the clinic as at home, linked possibly to Hawthorne effect.

Research Question

How does the in-toeing angle differ when children are aware, versus when they are not aware of their gait inspection?

Methods

This single center, clinical, cross-sectional, observational study looked into the variation in gait pattern of twelve children with in-toeing, with and without their awareness. Two videos for each child was recorded with a smart phone, once at the clinic while aware and once by the family without awareness, and uploaded into Kinovea software for gait analysis. The angle of foot in-toeing was measured and analyzed using SPSS comparison of means and correlations.

Results

The gait pattern evaluated with the angle of in-toeing showed a significant difference between the two videos of the same child. The angle difference returned a p value of 0.000 using paired sample t test and a Cohen’s d value of 1.4, representing the large significance between clinic and family recorded videos. The initial foot in-toeing angle showed a moderate positive Pearson’s correlation of 0.031 when compared with the angle difference in both settings.

Significance

These results highlight the importance of including family recorded videos in gait pattern analysis without the patient’s awareness. The study not only shows the significant difference found which can be explained by Hawthorne Effect but also suggests a clearer path of understanding the child’s condition with the family.

中文翻译：

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霍桑效应在股骨前倾角增大所致内八字儿童步态分析中的应用

背景

内八字是儿童申请骨科诊所的主要原因之一。在临床环境中，在进行内八字步态评估时，父母通常会认为他们的孩子在诊所走路时与在家里走路时不一样，这可能与霍桑效应有关。

研究问题

当孩子有意识时和没有意识到步态检查时，内八字角度有何不同？

方法

这项单中心、临床、横断面、观察性研究调查了 12 名内八字儿童的步态模式变化，无论他们是否有意识。我们用智能手机为每个孩子录制了两段视频，一次是在诊所知情的情况下录制的，另一次是家人在不知情的情况下录制的，然后上传到 Kinovea 软件中进行步态分析。使用SPSS测量和分析足内八角的均值和相关性。

结果

通过内八字角度评估的步态模式显示，同一孩子的两个视频之间存在显着差异。使用配对样本t检验，角度差异返回0.000 的p值和 1.4 的 Cohen d值，代表诊所和家庭录制的视频之间的显着性。与两种设置中的角度差异相比，初始脚内倾角显示出 0.031 的中等正 Pearson 相关性。

意义

这些结果强调了在患者不知情的情况下将家庭录制的视频纳入步态模式分析的重要性。该研究不仅显示了可以用霍桑效应解释的显着差异，而且还提出了一个更清晰的途径来了解孩子与家庭的状况。