The ground reaction forces during walking were investigated to detect the characteristics of walking in old men. The sixty-six subjects of ages ranging from twenty-three to seventy-eight years walked on the force plate with barefoot at their ordinary speeds and gait styles. The normalized impulses of brake and acceleration of the sagittal force (Fy) were decreased in old men. The side sway peak value and its normalized impulse were slightly increased in old men. The first and the second peaks of the vertical force (Fz) were decreased and the polar minimum value of Fz was increased in old men. The step length, speed and grip strength showed the clear decrease in old men. It was concluded that the characteristics of walking in old men were the walking with slow speed, short step length, weak Fy forces and normalized impulses and little vertical movements. It was also concluded that the interpretations of each principal component from the principal component analysis were almost the same in age groups in one's 20's, 30's, and 40's, and they were different from one another in age groups in one's 50's, 60's, and 70's, suggestinng that the walking became to change at one's 50's.
The characteristics of walking with different types of shoes were investigated from the viewpoint of ground reaction forces, as compared with those during walking barefoot. The shoes used in this experiment were three types for casual or business uses for men, which were on the market in Japan. The same shoes were worn by 4 male subjects of the same shoes sizes. It was concluded, from the analysis of variance and the mean difference test, that (1) the ground reaction forces during walking with shoes showed large differences between subjects, (2) the first peak value of the vertical ground rection force had the tendency to increase while the polar minimum value of the vertical force had the tendency to decrease during walking with shoes, (3) the effect of shoes on the ground reaction forces appeared subject specific, and (4) the formal shoes with leather sole had less effect to enhance the acceleration.
Characteristics of the fast speed walking in old men, primarily from the viewpoint of the ground reaction forces, were investigated in comparison with those during the ordinary speed walking. As a result, the following were recognized as the characteristics of fast speed walking in old men; (1) the walking speed, step length, and brake impulse as well as acceleration impulse began to decrease pronouncedly from the age group in their 60s, (2) the walking of subjects in their 60s and 70s were hastened from the ordinary speed level with almost the same ratios as in the younger subjects, (3) increase of the step length during the fast speed walking, against those during the ordinary speed walking, was smaller in subjects in their 70s than in the younger, (4) increase of the brake impulse during the fast speed walking, against those during the ordinary speed walking, began to decrease from the age-group in their 60s, while (5) that of the acceleration impulse remained unchanged with age. The principal component analysis revealed that (6) the contents of the fast speed walking are almost identical in ages between 20s and 50s, suggesting that they begin to change at one's 60s.
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