Objective: To find out the characteristics of gait maturation process in Korean normal children.

Method: Three dimensional kinematic gait analysis using Vicon 370 system from Oxford Metrics Company was performed for 72 children (33 females) without known gait anomalies aging between one and six years old. The data were compared with those from 41 normal adults which were collected previously using the same method, and with those from study by Sutherland et. al.

Results:

1. The initial heel contact, initial flexion wave of the knee joint during the early stance phase and reciprocal arm swing were found before the age of 3.5.

2. Pelvic motion in transverse plane, hip joint motion in all the three planes, knee joint motion in coronal plane, and ankle joint motion in transverse plane remained greater than those of Caucasian children of Sutherland et. al.

3. Single stance period remained shorter than that of Caucasian children.

4. Internal rotation of hip joint and varus motion of the knee joint remained greater than those of Caucasian children.

Conclusion: The difference between Korean and Caucasian children were

1. Development of muscles' ability which stabilize the large leg joints during gait seems slower among Korean children than Caucasian children.

2. These differences are probably from the anthropometrical characteristics of Korean and Caucasian growing children. Also, the different definition of angle systems between the Korean and Caucasian data might case some erroneous effect on the interpretation of result.

Keywords :Gait maturation, Korean children, Kinematics, Gait analysis