Strategies of stepping over obstacles: The effects of long-term exercise in older adults

Effects of regular exercise and dual tasking on spatial and temporal parameters of obstacle negotiation in elderly women

“…Active participants were found to have greater LL heel distance (for both legs), which is in line with previous studies including strength training [4], Tai-Chi-Chuan [13] and multi-task training [3]. Furthermore, the greater LL toe clearance in the non-preferred leg of active participants is in accordance with the effects of other types of exercise [4,13].…”

Comparison of gait velocity and center of mass acceleration under conditions of disrupted somatosensory input from the feet during the navigation of obstacles in older adults with good and poor visual acuity

“…The vestibular system is an absolute reference system and is indispensable for balance control in situations where visual and somatosensory information is inconsistent. Additionally, vestibular input contributes to automatic postural control when balance is threatened [5]. However, when elderly individuals experience multisensory deficits, such as impaired visual and somatosensory input, the vestibular system is not able to entirely compensate for the roles that vision and somatosensation play in the maintenance of postural control.…”

“…The navigation of an obstacle is common challenge to the ability maintain balance during the performance of ADL and is a frequent cause of falls among older adults [4,5]. The navigation of obstacles necessitates greater joint motion in the swinging limb and greater joint kinetic demands in the standing limb compared with level walking.…”

“…Sensory information from the ankle also plays an important role during the adjustment of gait incidence and the avoidance of obstacles [11]. In turn, the CNS processes the afferent sensory information and enacts effective motor responses by adjusting the position of the lower extremities, instigating movement (such as range of motion, foot clearance, and foot placement), minimizing body sway, and regulating walking speed [5].…”

The effect of navigating obstacles when walking with deficient (inappropriate, deprived, limited) foot sensory input on spatiotemporal gait parameters of elderly individuals with different visual acuities

“…To successfully navigate stepping over an obstacle, specific processes must occur, including afferent sensory inputs such as proprioceptive, vestibular, and visual systems, central nervous system (CNS) processing of pertinent information concerning the obstacle, and effective and timely adjustment of gait patterns [3,4]. Before crossing an obstacle, visual detection of the obstacle in the environment such as height, color and size of the obstacle is used as feedforward information [5,6].…”