Are there associations with age and sex in walking stability in healthy older adults?

Abstract

The variability of the centre of pressure (COP) during walking can provide information in relation to stability when walking. The aim of this study was to investigate if age and sex were associated with COP variability, COP excursions, and COP velocities during walking. One-hundred and fourteen older adults (age 65.1±5.5 yrs.) participated in the study. A Kistler force platform (1000Hz) recorded the ground reaction forces and COPs during walking at a self-selected walking speed. The stance phase was divided, using the vertical GRF, into four sub-phases: loading response (LR), mid-stance (MSt), terminal stance (TSt), and pre-swing (PSw). The standard deviations of the COP displacement (variability), the COP velocity, and COP excursion in the medial-lateral and anterior-posterior directions, as well as the resultant magnitude were assessed. When controlling for walking speed, a greater age was associated with a higher variability and excursion of the COP during LR only suggesting that stability is maintained during the majority of the stance phase. During LR lower COP velocity was significantly associated for females for anterior-posterior and total COP, which may be a strategy to facilitate stability before, and moving into, MSt and TSt.

Sex-independent and dependent effects of older age on cycle-to-cycle variability of muscle activation during gait

“…A loss in GL activation variability at mid-stance likely indicates a lack of flexibility in the motor patterns able to be selected by older females. This seems to align with previous evidence [32][33][34]. Barrett et al [32] reported lower variability of ankle dorsiflexion/plantar flexion in females in their sample of young adults and Rathleff et al [33] reported lower variability of the navicular height during stance in females in their sample of middle aged adults.…”

“…Interestingly, the lack of flexibility of ankle motor patterns in aging females may help explain sex-and age-based gait instability. In a recent study, van Kooten et al [34] measured the gait instability of 114 healthy older females and males aged 55-84 years old. After controlling for gait speed, they found higher instability with older age during loading and higher instability in females than in males during mid-stance and terminal stance, indicating higher instability with older age and in females.…”

Pain, balance, grip strength and gait parameters of older adults with and without post‐chikungunya chronic arthralgia

“…To maintain upright stance, the central nervous system dynamically and selectively adjust the contributions of sensory inputs depending on the environment and neuromuscular constraints . The COP trajectory represents the cumulative neuromuscular response to sustain balance . It is a proxy for total body sway control, and larger values indicate worse performance .…”

Interactions Between Different Age-Related Factors Affecting Balance Control in Walking

“…Faster walking speed itself has not been associated with decreased stability in young adults (Bruijn et al, 2009) and some measures of stability may actually increase with faster walking speed in young adults (England and Granata, 2007;Hak et al, 2013). When only older adults are examined, contrasting results show greater variability in those who walk slower (Verghese et al, 2009) as well as in all older adults regardless of speed (Hausdorff et al, 2001;Dingwell et al, 2017;van Kooten et al, 2018). In a study of individuals with and without diabetic neuropathy, slower speed was a predictor of greater stability in adults with diabetic neuropathy (Dingwell et al, 2000), suggesting that slower walking speed may be used to improve stability in the presence of additional physiological deficits.…”