Kinematic Changes during Prolonged Fast-Walking in Old and Young Adults (original) (raw)
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Walking speed modulation in young and elderly people
2008
Human locomotion is certainly the most analyzed motor task and subject of a great deal of literature. However, conclusions drawn are not always consistent and this is often caused by the variability of mean speed of progression (SoP), stride length (SL) and cadence (SF), which are not taken in due consideration. In addition, laboratory/experimental constraints impose values to these parameters that make walking non-spontaneous, possibly affecting the analysis. Moreover, secondary motor tasks influenced gait parameters and differences were observed when subjects walked at maximum speed compared to a comfortable pace. The aim of this study was to verify the hypothesis that, in human walking, the increase in SoP will be supported by a pattern in the spatial-temporal parameters only whilst the effort is perceived as comfortable, and thus associated with the subjects capabilities. The project was organized in two different steps with the following aims: • In a first methodological study, the most appropriate parameters and analysis procedures were identified; • In a second applied study, the parameters previously identified were used to answer to the purpose of the present work. In the 1 st methodological study, two groups of young (YG, n=25, 23±4 years) and elderly (EG, n=22, 71±4 years) health subjects participated in the study. They were asked to walk three times at "comfortable" (CS) and at "fastest" (FS) self-selected speed and two strides per trial were considered for the analysis. Stride duration (T) was recorded using a purposely built 4 m instrumented mat, and SF was computed as 1/T. A VICON 612® system was used to measure SL (AP displacement of a marker located over the C7 spinal process). Speed values (v) were computed as SL/T. Data were normalized with respect to subjects' leg length. The relationships between normalized SL (λ), SF (φ) and v (ϖ) were assessed using bivariate regression analysis and Pearson's product moment. As hypothesised, the way the YG and the EG combine φ and λ to support SoP in the two different tasks performed was clearly different. A clear effect of φ and λ on speed of progression was found, but the correlation between the parameters was reduced with increasing speed. This fact suggests that young and elderly people coordinate with both φ and λ to sustain higher speed of progression, until this is within a range that they perceive as comfortable. Beyond this threshold, they can sustain the efforts picking up from their one's capabilities, that differs from each other. Domenico Cherubini: Walking speed modulation in young and elderly subjects 2 The utilized protocol, together with the data analysis procedures, has proved to be a useful tool for the aim of this research. In particular, the option to analyse the relationship between the temporal-spatial walking parameters separately for the two different specific walking tasks. But, although some interesting results were achieved, some questions were still open. In order to consolidate the results of the present study, the analysis of walking patterns in a space wider than that of a laboratory, and in more natural conditions, is desirable. Moreover, the application of an incremental walking speed protocol could be more effective to analyse the way people, differently aged, modulate the walking parameters to support variation in walking speed. In the 2 nd part of the study, any possible conditioning of the subject's natural gait was ruled out asking him or her to walk continuously along a circuit, in the centre of which a GAITRite® system was placed. Two groups of healthy elderly (EG, n.17, 67±4 years) and young (YG, n=28, 22±3 years) people volunteered for this study. They walked starting at their most comfortable speed, slightly increased speed of progression each 90 s, until they perceived the effort from hard to very hard. Then, they were asked to walk at the maximum speed. For each subject, the incremental test data was clustered in terms of the 33 rd , 66 th and 100 th percentile of the Z-score speed values. This procedure allowed us to compare the data collected for the same exerted effort, even if the achieved speed could differ. The Pearson's correlation coefficient was computed with reference to the gait variables, for each speed condition, and for each subject. A linear hierarchical regression was conducted to highlight possible differences in the relationship between them, during the different walking efforts. Both EG and YG supported the increase in SoP using SF more than SL, and the EG maintained the capability of exerting SF at a similar level as the YG. The SF and SL of both groups showed high correlation values with SoP only at the most comfortable speed. As speed of progression increased, these values tended to clearly decrease, differently progressing in the two sample groups. Above all, the linear hierarchical regression showed high significant differences of the regression models analyzed at each speed, in both EG and YG. Moreover, both EG and YG showed highly significant differences among the variances between-and within-subjects, for each parameter. The results of the present study confirm our starting hypothesis. The way the subjects have to speed up pace depends on the subjective motor capability and on the required effort. It appears evident that the latter factor causes a wide inter-subject variability of the gait phenomenon described very frequently in the literature. The same variability that, when not considered, could lead to misleading conclusions as has been the case with several authors that dealt with, and tried to solve, the problem of human locomotion.
Age and Ageing, 2010
Objective: the present study investigated the effects of walking under different challenges and kinematics and kinetics generated during these activities and how these vary with age. We hypothesised that age-associated changes in gait speed and kinetics are more pronounced during fast-speed walking and post-activity walking, compared with usual-speed walking. Methods: investigated walking under three conditions: (i) usual speed, (ii) fast speed and (iii) post-activity in 183 Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging participants (mean 73 ± 9 years) who could walk unassisted. Results: across all tasks, gait speed decreased with older age and this decline rate was exacerbated in the fast-speed walking task, compared with usual-speed walking (P < 0.001). Medial-lateral (ML) hip-generative mechanical work expenditure declined with age and the rate of decline was steeper for walking at fast speed and post-activity during hip extension (P = 0.032 and 0.027, respectively), compared with usual-speed walking. Conclusions: these findings indicate that older adults experience exacerbated declines in gait speed and ML control of the hip, which is explicitly evident during challenging walking. Exercise programmes aimed at improving gait speed and ML joint power from hip and ankle may help reverse age-associated changes in gait pattern among older adults.
Systematic Reviews
Background: Understanding the effects of gait speed on biomechanical variables is fundamental for a proper evaluation of alterations in gait, since pathological individuals tend to walk slower than healthy controls. Therefore, the aim of the study was to perform a systematic review of the effects of gait speed on spatiotemporal parameters, joint kinematics, joint kinetics, and ground reaction forces in healthy children, young adults, and older adults. Methods: A systematic electronic search was performed on PubMed, Embase, and Web of Science databases to identify studies published between 1980 and 2019. A modified Quality Index was applied to assess methodological quality, and effect sizes with 95% confidence intervals were calculated as the standardized mean differences. For the meta-analyses, a fixed or random effect model and the statistical heterogeneity were calculated using the I 2 index. Results: Twenty original full-length studies were included in the final analyses with a total of 587 healthy individuals evaluated, of which four studies analyzed the gait pattern of 227 children, 16 studies of 310 young adults, and three studies of 59 older adults. In general, gait speed affected the amplitude of spatiotemporal gait parameters, joint kinematics, joint kinetics, and ground reaction forces with a decrease at slow speeds and increase at fast speeds in relation to the comfortable speed. Specifically, moderate-to-large effect sizes were found for each age group and speed: children (slow, − 3.61 to 0.59; fast, − 1.05 to 2.97), young adults (slow, − 3.56 to 4.06; fast, − 4.28 to 4.38), and older adults (slow, − 1.76 to 0.52; fast, − 0.29 to 1.43). Conclusions: This review identified that speed affected the gait patterns of different populations with respect to the amplitude of spatiotemporal parameters, joint kinematics, joint kinetics, and ground reaction forces. Specifically, most of the values analyzed decreased at slower speeds and increased at faster speeds. Therefore, the effects of speed on gait patterns should also be considered when comparing the gait analysis of pathological individuals with normal or control ones.
Effects of age and speed on the ankle–foot system’s power during walking
Scientific Reports
Structural and functional changes in the foot have been associated with age-related changes in gait mechanics, but walking speed may be a confounding factor in this relationship. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of aging and speed on the ankle–foot power output during level walking. The effects of speed and aging on features of the mechanical power and work of the ankle and foot were quantified with a gait analysis of 24 young and 16 older individuals walking at different speeds. We observed gait speed having a significant effect on all the investigated features: peak power and positive and negative work of the ankle, foot, and sum of the ankle and foot (average effect size: 0.64 ± 0.22, from 0.26 to 0.87). We observed age having no effect on these same features (average effect size: 0.23 ± 0.12, from 0.03 to 0.39), with the exception of age’s effect when combined with speed on the negative work of the foot. We performed additional analysis to illustrate how the s...
Effects of Fast-Walking on Muscle Activation in Young Adults and Elderly Persons
2017
Coactivation of agonist and antagonist muscles participates in the regulation of joint stiffness and postural instability. Alterations on muscle activity have been revealed as an important falling risk factor. It is unclear the effects, and age-related differences, of a prolonged demanding task on the muscular coactivation levels. We compared muscle activation amplitude and coactivation of the vastus medialis, biceps femoris, tibialis anterior, and gastrocnemius medialis from surface EMG in 16 young adults (age 21-33) and 8 elderly adults (age 66-72) while fast-walking at 70% of their maximum heart rate. Overall, the elderly demonstrated higher coactivation indexes than the young individuals. Ankle coactivation decreased in the fi rst half of the swing phase, while coactivation at the knee increased in the latter half of the swing phase in our elders. Alterations of muscle activation and coactivation on the knee and ankle were more prominent close to landing and in the swing phase. Our results suggest that these alterations may suggest potential concerns with respect to the risk of falls.
Clinical Biomechanics, 2010
Background: Instrumented treadmills offer a number of advantages for the biomechanical analysis of elderly gait, yet it is unclear how closely treadmill gait approximates overground gait. Although studies have indicated that the kinematics and kinetics of overground and treadmill gait are very similar in young adults, it still needs to be determined whether data collected in elderly adults during treadmill walking can be generalized to overground gait. The purpose of this study, therefore, was to compare the threedimensional kinematics and kinetics of treadmill gait to overground gait in a group of healthy elderly subjects. Methods: Three-dimensional kinematic and kinetic data for 18 healthy, nondisabled elderly subjects, age 65-81 years, were collected for speed-matched overground and treadmill walking conditions. Findings: Overall, the kinematics and kinetics of gait during treadmill and overground walking in the elderly had very similar patterns. However, during treadmill walking elderly subjects showed greater cadence, smaller stride length and stride time as well as reductions in the majority of joint angles, moments and powers when compared to overground walking. Interpretation: The large increase in cadence suggests that an effective method of acclimation to treadmill walking still needs to be determined. Because of the differences, we believe that in order for instrumented treadmills to become a suitable tool for research and training purposes in healthy elderly, subjects must be adequately acclimated to the treadmill.
The effect of walking speed on gait variability in healthy young, middle-age and elderly individuals
Previous research with healthy young adults has suggested that the temporal structure of gait variability is not random but shows self-similarity that is dependent on speed. Specifically, the strength of the long-range correlation of stride intervals follows a quadratic relationship with the minimum values at the respective preferred walking speed (PWS). The purpose of this study was to investigate if this relationship is affected by increasing age. Ten healthy young, seven healthy, middle-aged and seven healthy, elderly adults completed five-minute walking trials at 80%, 90%, 100%, 110% and 120% of their PWS on a treadmill. We investigated the temporal structure of gait variability by using detrended fluctuation analysis. In addition, we computed the Coefficient of Variation (CV) to identify effects on amount of gait variability. Our results revealed a significant quadratic relationship between the temporal structure of gait variability and speed for all groups extending the previously reported existence of such a relationship in healthy young adults to older individuals. However, only significant negative linear relationships were found between amount of variability and speed providing support that this relationship is not quadratic but linear across individuals of different ages. In addition, we found that the examination of the temporal structure of gait variability is more sensitive in differentiating middle-age and younger individuals. If middle-age is where the aging process starts, then measures of the temporal structure of gait variability are essential as prognostic and diagnostic tools of aging.
Revista Brasileira de Geriatria e Gerontologia, 2015
Objective : Comparison of the biomechanical parameters (spatiotemporal and kinetic) during walking of young people, falling, and non-falling elderly persons. Methods : A cross-sectional study was performed of 29 individuals divided into three groups: young persons (n=10); falling elderly individuals (n=7) and non-falling individuals (n=12). Gait analysis was performed based on the recording of three walking gait cycles along an 8 meter platform, which was attached to a force plate with a recording frequency of 200 Hz. Gait cycles were also recorded by three video cameras positioned perpendicular to the force plate with a recording frequency of 60 Hz. The data analyzed was: average step velocity, stance time, Froude number and anteroposterior ground reaction force. Results : The average step velocity was higher among young persons and there was no difference in the Froude number among the three groups. During the stance and impulse phase, anterior and posterior force was higher among...