Sex-specific differences in gait patterns of healthy older adults: results from the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging - PubMed (original) (raw)

Sex-specific differences in gait patterns of healthy older adults: results from the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging

Seung-uk Ko et al. J Biomech. 2011.

Abstract

The effects of normal aging and orthopedic conditions on gait patterns during customary walking have been extensively investigated. Empirical evidence supports the notion that sex differences exist in the gait patterns of young adults but it is unclear as to whether sex differences exist in older adults. The aim of this study was to investigate sex-specific differences in gait among older adults. Study participants were 336 adults (50-96 years; 162 women) enrolled in the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging (BLSA) who completed walking tasks at self-selected speed without assistance. After adjusting for significant covariates, women walked with higher cadence (p=0.01) and shorter stride length (p=0.006) compared to men, while gait speed was not significantly related to sex. Women also had less hip range of motion (ROM; p=0.004) and greater ankle ROM (p<0.001) in the sagittal-plane, and greater hip ROM (p=0.004) in the frontal-plane. Hip absorptive mechanical work expenditure (MWE) of the women was greater in the sagittal-plane (p<0.001) and lower in the frontal-plane (p<0.001), compared to men. In summary, women's gait is characterized by greater ankle ROM than men while men tend to have greater hip ROM than women. Characterizing unique gait patterns of women and men with aging may be beneficial for detecting the early stages of gait abnormalities that may lead to pathology.

Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interest.

All the authors declare that no financial or personal relationships were conducted with other people or organizations that could inappropriately influence or bias this work.

Figures

Figure 1

Figure 1

Stride length and cadence among women and men as a function of age

Figure 2

Figure 2

Percent of gait cycles (%GC) for the rotations of knee (a) and ankle (b) in the sagittal-plane with significant sex difference* * These figures are from representative participants of both sexes

Similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Beauchet O, Allali G, Annweiler C, Bridenbaugh S, Assal F, Kressig RW, Herrmann FR. Gait Variability among Healthy Adults: Low and High Stride-to-Stride Variability Are Both a Reflection of Gait Stability. Gerontology 2009 - PubMed
    1. Bell AL, Pedersen DR, Brand RA. A comparison of the accuracy of several hip center location prediction methods. Journal of Biomechanics. 1990;23:617–621. - PubMed
    1. Bohannon RW. Comfortable and maximum walking speed of adults aged 20–79 years: reference values and determinants. Age and Ageing. 1997;26:15–19. - PubMed
    1. Childs JD, Sparto PJ, Fitzgerald GK, Bizzini M, Irrgang JJ. Alterations in lower extremity movement and muscle activation patterns in individuals with knee osteoarthritis. Clinical biomechanics. 2004;19:44–49. - PubMed
    1. Cho SH, Park JM, Kwon OY. Gender differences in three dimensional gait analysis data from 98 healthy Korean adults. Clinical biomechanics. 2004;19:145–152. - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms

LinkOut - more resources