Journal
GAIT & POSTURE
Volume 28, Issue 3, Pages 466-471Publisher
ELSEVIER IRELAND LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.gaitpost.2008.02.009
Keywords
mobility; aging; tandem walk; postural controls; frontal plane stability
Categories
Funding
- NIH
- National Institute on Aging
Ask authors/readers for more resources
We examined age-related differences in frontal plane stability during performance of narrow base (NB) walking relative to usual gait. A cross-sectional analysis of participants from the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging (BLSA) was performed on data from the BLSA Motion Analysis Laboratory. Participants were 34 adults aged 54-92 without history of falls. We measured step error rates during NB gait and spatial-temporal parameters, frontal plane stability, and gait variability during usual and NB gait. There was a non-significant age-associated linear increase in step error rate (P = 0.12) during NB gait. With increasing age, step width increased (P = 0.002) and step length and stride velocity decreased (P < 0.001). especially during NB gait. Age-associated increases in medio-lateral (M-L) center of mass (COM) peak velocity (P < 0.001) and displacement (P = 0.005) were also greater during NB compared to usual gait. With increasing age there was greater variability in stride velocity (P = 0.001) and step length (P < 0.001) under both conditions. Age-associated differences related to M-L COM stability Suggest that the quantification of COM control during NB gait may improve identification of older persons at increased falls risk. Published by Elsevier B.V.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available