A new measure of trip risk integrating minimum foot clearance and dynamic stability across the swing phase of gait.

ABSTRACT: Minimum toe clearance (MTC) is thought to quantify the risk of the toe contacting the ground during the swing phase of gait and initiating a trip, but there are methodological issues with this measure and the risk of trip-related falls has been shown to also be associated with gait speed and dynamic stability. This paper proposes and evaluates a new measure, trip risk integral (TRI), that circumvents many issues with MTC as typically calculated at a single point by considering minimum foot clearance across the entire swing phase and taking into account dynamic stability to estimate risk of falling due to a trip rather than risk of the foot contacting the floor. Shoes and floor surfaces were digitized and MTC and TRI calculated for unimpaired younger (N=14, age=26±5), unimpaired older (N=14

SUBMITTER: Schulz BW 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5473159 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature