Abstract. Owing to advancement of medical technology and current knowledge, the population has a longer life expectancy, leading to an increase in the proportion of elderly. Objective: The study aimed to investigate the effect of action observation (AO) combined with gait training on gait and cognition in elderly with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Methods: Thirty-three participants were randomly allocated to action observation with gait training (AOGT), gait training (GT), and control (CT) groups. The AOGT and GT groups received a program of observation and gait training protocol with the same total duration of 65 min for 12 sessions. For the observation, the AGOT group watched a video of normal gait movement, while the GT group watched an abstract picture and the CT group received no training program. All participants were assessed for gait parameters during single- and dual-tasks using an electronic gait mat system and were assessed for cognitive level using the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) at baseline, after training and at 1-month follow-up. Results: The results showed that the AOGT group had significant improvements in gait speeds during single- and dual-tasks, as well as better MoCA score, while the GT group had significant improvement only in gait speed. Conclusion: The adjunct treatment of AO with gait training provides greater benefits for both gait and cognitive performances in elderly with MCI.

Background and purposeSpatio‐temporal parameters are commonly used in gait assessment. Advanced tools provide valid and reliable data, considered very effective for physiotherapy intervention. However, these tools may be limited in clinical usage caused by complicated applicability, inaccessibility, and high cost. Therefore, a video‐based system is an alternative choice that is easy and affordable for the clinical setting. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the concurrent validity of the video‐based system against the validated instrumented gait system (Force Distribution Measurement [FDM]) on the spatio‐temporal gait parameters in individuals with stroke. In addition, the intratester reliability of a novice tester was determined.MethodsTwenty individuals with stroke participated in the study. Gait was captured by the video‐based and FDM systems simultaneously to measure the degree of concurrent validity. Parameters composed of the affected and unaffected step lengths (cm) and step time (s), stride length (cm), gait velocity (m/s), and cadence (steps/min). Pearson correlation coefficient, paired t test, and intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) were used to determine the concurrent validity, the difference of the data, and intratester reliability.ResultsAll spatio‐temporal gait parameters showed excellent degrees of correlation (rp = .94 to.99, p <.001) between the video‐based and FDM systems. No significant difference in all parameters was found between the two systems. Excellent intratester reliability (ICC3,1 = 0.91 to 0.99, p < .001) of all gait parameters were found in a novice tester.ConclusionThe video‐based system was valid and reliable for a novice tester to measure the spatio‐temporal gait parameters in individuals with stroke.