Differential Gait Patterns by History of Falls and Knee Pain Status in Healthy Older Adults: Results From the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging

Abstract

Consideration of knee pain can be crucial for identifying fall-related gait patterns. While walking, gait parameters at usual speed were examined in persons with different falls and knee pain status. A total of 439 adults aged 60–92 years participated in this study. Persons with a history of falls had a wider stride width (p = .036) and longer double support time (p = .034) than nonfallers. In the absence of knee pain, fallers had longer double support time than nonfallers (p = .012), but no differences in double support time by history of falls were observed in participants with knee pain. With slower gait speed, fallers with knee pain have narrower stride width and larger hip range of motion (p = .027 and p = .001, respectively). Results suggest the importance of considering knee pain in fall studies for better understanding the fall-related differential gait mechanisms and for designing fall prevention intervention strategies.

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

“…The results indicate severe levels of pain, impaired balance and gait, and lower grip strength in older adults with PCCA. Arthralgia affecting the upper and lower limbs is likely the reason for the impairments identified because pain interferes with grip strength, balance and gait . Interventions focused on arthralgia reduction/pain management are important to improve functional performance in patients with PCCA.…”

Evaluation of wrist and hip sedentary behaviour and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity raw acceleration cutpoints in older adults

“…Recent accelerometer studies have suggested that the wrist may be a preferable attachment site as it can more accurately capture the arm motions of non-ambulatory based activities such as household chores (Evenson et al, 2015;Landry, Falck, Beets, & Liu-Ambrose, 2015), and is less influenced by atypical gait patterns and walking speed variability, which are both commonly observed in older adults (Ko, Jerome, Simonsick, Studenski, & Ferrucci, 2018). Wrist-worn accelerometers have demonstrated excellent validity against energy expenditure as the criterion measure, and in comparison to hip-worn monitors (Esliger et al, 2011).…”

Accelerated decline in cognition in a mouse model of increased oxidative stress

“…Because the Sod1KO mice exhibit increased loss of many physical functions, we investigated whether the Sod1KO mice also exhibit an accelerated loss in cognition. Studies in humans demonstrate that there is a strong correlation between age-related changes in physical performance and cognition (Ko et al 2018;Suire et al 2017;Rosso et al 2017;Watson et al 2010;Mielke et al 2013). Numerous studies have also shown that cognition declines with advancing age in rats and mice using various measures of cognitive function, e.g., Morris water maze, object recognition, and Y maze (Logan et al 2018a;VanGuilder Starkey et al 2013;VanGuilder et al 2011;Ashpole et al 2017).…”