The characteristics of walking in old men analysed from the ground reaction force.

Abstract

The ground reaction forces during walking were investigated to detect the characteristics of walking in old men. The sixty-six subjects of ages ranging from twenty-three to seventy-eight years walked on the force plate with barefoot at their ordinary speeds and gait styles. The normalized impulses of brake and acceleration of the sagittal force (Fy) were decreased in old men. The side sway peak value and its normalized impulse were slightly increased in old men. The first and the second peaks of the vertical force (Fz) were decreased and the polar minimum value of Fz was increased in old men. The step length, speed and grip strength showed the clear decrease in old men. It was concluded that the characteristics of walking in old men were the walking with slow speed, short step length, weak Fy forces and normalized impulses and little vertical movements. It was also concluded that the interpretations of each principal component from the principal component analysis were almost the same in age groups in one's 20's, 30's, and 40's, and they were different from one another in age groups in one's 50's, 60's, and 70's, suggestinng that the walking became to change at one's 50's.

The Characteristics of Fast Speed Walking in Old Men from the Viewpoint of the Ground Reaction Forces.

“…The linear correlation coefficients between all pairs of items for the whole subjects and their significance levels are listed in Table 4. The results are almost identical with our previous ones for the ordinary speed walking (YAMADA et al, 1988). Thus, the fundamental relationships between the items appear to be conserved even if the walking speed is hastened.…”

“…These results suggest that the contents of the fast speed walking begin to change at one's 60s. YAMADA et al (1988) applied the PCA to the ordinary speed walking using the same items as in the present study, and reported that the constitutions of the principal components were almost identical from 20s to 40s. That is, PC1 was mainly characterized by the brake impulse (though the acceleration impulse was included in 20s and 30s), PC2 by the outward transverse impulse, PC3 by the vertical impulse, and they were different according to age groups from 50s to 70s.…”

“…The subjects were 66 male Japanese living around Tokyo, aged from 23 to 78 years, who were the same subjects examined in our previous paper (YAMADA et al, 1988). They were divided into six age groups; 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s, and 70s.…”

“…They also reported that the walking in old men beyond 65 years old were widely different from that in the younger. YAMADA et al (1988) reported, primarily from the viewpoint of the ground reaction forces, that the characteristics of ordinary speed walking in old men were as follows; l) the impulses of brake and acceleration decreased in the age-groups of 60s and 70s, 2) the transverse K. MAIE, T. YAMADA, S. KONDO and H. TANAKA peak force (outward) and its impulse increased in 60s and 70s, 3) the 1st and 2nd peaks of the vertical force decreased and its minimum force increased in 60s and 70s, 4) the step length and the walking speed decreased in 60s and 70s, and 5) from the principal component analysis, the contents of the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd principal components remained almost unchanged from 20s to 40s, but altered according to age-groups from 50s to 70s, suggesting that the ordinary speed walking begins to change at one's 50s. With respect to the walking at higher speeds, however, studies seems to be scarce for the elderly.…”

“…The data of ordinary speed walking are just the same as those used in our previous paper (YAMADA et al, 1988). Table 1.…”