Aging effects on leg joint variability during walking with balance perturbations.

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND:Older adults are more susceptible to balance perturbations during walking than young adults. However, we lack an individual joint-level understanding of how aging affects the neuromechanical strategies used to accommodate balance perturbations. RESEARCH QUESTION:We investigated gait phase-dependence in and aging effects on leg joint kinematic variability during walking with balance perturbations. We hypothesized that leg joint variability would: 1) vary across the gait cycle and 2) increase with balance perturbations. We also hypothesized that perturbation effects on leg joint kinematic variability would be larger and more pervasive in older versus young adults. METHODS:We collected leg joint kinematics in young and older adults walking with and without mediolateral optical flow

SUBMITTER: Qiao M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6069536 | biostudies-literature | 2018 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature