The muscle strength of the knee extension and plantarflexion plays a crucial role in determining gait speed. Recent studies have shown that no-load angular velocity of the lower limb joints is essential for determining gait speed. However, no reports have compared the extent to which lower limb functions, such as knee extension strength, knee extension velocity, plantarflexion strength, and plantarflexion velocity, impact gait speed in a single study. Therefore, this study aimed to examine the relative importance of maximum strength and no-load angular velocity on gait speed. Overall, 164 community-dwelling older adults (72.9 ± 5.0 years) participated in this study. We measured the gait speed and lower limb function (the strength and velocity of knee extension and plantarflexion). Strength was measured with a hand-held dynamometer, and velocity with a gyroscope. A multiple regression analysis was performed with gait speed as the dependent variable and age, sex, and lower-limb function as independent variables. Plantarflexion velocity (β = 0.25) and plantarflexion strength (β = 0.21) were noted to be significant predictors of gait speed. These findings indicate that no-load plantarflexion velocity is more important than the strength of plantarflexion and knee extensions as a determinant of gait speed, suggesting that improvement in plantarflexion velocity may increase gait speed.
Ankle exercises are useful for preventing deep vein thrombosis, as they increase venous blood flow velocity. The cause for the increased venous blood flow velocity during ankle exercises may be the skeletal-muscle pump, but the mechanism is not clearly understood. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of the dorsiflexion angle and gastrocnemius muscle contraction on venous blood flow velocity during ankle exercises and to investigate the mechanism of the increase in venous blood flow velocity. The blood flow velocity in the popliteal vein, ankle joint angle, and surface electromyographic activity of the gastrocnemius muscle were measured at rest and during ankle exercises in the prone position in young healthy volunteers. The significant increase in venous blood flow velocity was observed during dorsiflexion phase, max dorsiflexion and during planter flexion phase. The peak venous blood flow velocity was different in each subject and classified into four types. The correlations of venous blood velocity to ankle joint angle and with the surface electromyographic activity of the gastrocnemius muscle were not statistically significant. These findings suggest that venous blood flow velocity increases not only during plantar flexion and dorsiflexion.
Muscle strength of knee extension and ankle plantarflexion plays a crucial role in determining gait speed. Recent studies have shown that no-load angular velocity of the lower limb joints is essential for determining the gait speed. However, no study has compared the extent to which lower limb functions such as knee extension strength, knee extension velocity, plantarflexion strength, and plantarflexion velocity impact gait speed. Therefore, this study aimed to examine the relative importance of maximum strength and no-load angular velocity on gait speed in older adults. Overall, 164 community-dwelling older adults participated in this study. We measured maximum gait speed and lower limb function (strength and velocity of knee extension and plantarflexion). Multiple linear regression analysis was performed with gait speed as the dependent variable and age, sex, and lower-limb function as independent variables. Plantarflexion velocity (standardized β = 0.25) and plantarflexion strength (standardized β = 0.21) were noted to be significant predictors of gait speed. These findings indicate that no-load plantarflexion velocity is more important than the strength of plantarflexion and knee extension as a determinant of gait speed, suggesting that improvement in plantarflexion velocity may be expected to increase gait speed.
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