期刊
CLINICAL BIOMECHANICS
卷 29, 期 1, 页码 68-74出版社
ELSEVIER SCI LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.clinbiomech.2013.10.018
关键词
Elderly; Ankle power; Biofeedback; Rehabilitation; Intervention
资金
- University of Colorado Graduate School
Background: Reduced propulsive function during the push-off phase of walking plays a central role in the deterioration of walking ability with age. We used real-time propulsive feedback to test the hypothesis that old adults have an underutilized propulsive reserve available during walking. Methods: Bold adults (mean [SD], age: 72.1 [3.9] years) and 11 young adults (age: 21.0 [1.5] years) participated. For our primary aim, old subjects walked: 1) normally, 2) with visual feedback of their peak propulsive ground reaction forces, and 3) with visual feedback of their medial gastrocnemius electromyographic activity during push-off. We asked those subjects to match a target set to 20% and 40% greater propulsive force or push-off muscle activity than normal walking. We tested young subjects walking normally only to provide reference ground reaction force values. Findings: Walking normally, old adults exerted 12.5% smaller peak propulsive forces than young adults (P < 0.01). However, old adults significantly increased their propulsive forces and push-off muscle activities when we provided propulsive feedback. Most notably, force feedback elicited propulsive forces that were equal to or 10.5% greater than those of young adults (+20% target, P = 0.87; +40% target, P = 0.02). With electromyographic feedback, old adults significantly increased their push-off muscle activities but without increasing their propulsive forces. Interpretation: Old adults with propulsive deficits have a considerable and underutilized propulsive reserve available during level walking. Further, real-time propulsive feedback represents a promising therapeutic strategy to improve the forward propulsion of old adults and thus maintain their walking ability and independence. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
作者
我是这篇论文的作者
点击您的名字以认领此论文并将其添加到您的个人资料中。
推荐
暂无数据