Changes to margins of stability from walking to obstacle crossing in older adults while walking fast and with a dual-task.

ABSTRACT: It is not well understood how older adults meet the combined locomotor demands of obstacle avoidance at fast speeds as compared to obstacle avoidance under cognitive loads. The purpose of this study was to quantify changes in locomotor stability (margin of stability, MOS) from walking to crossing obstacles at fast speeds versus with added cognitive demands in older adults. Community-dwelling older adults walked on an unobstructed and obstructed path at their preferred speed (preferred); during a dualtask (verbal fluency); and at their 'fastest comfortable' speed (fast). We used motion capture to calculate MOS in the anteroposterior direction, and compared minimum MOS between crossing foot and support phase (lead single support, lead double support, trail single support, trail double suppor

SUBMITTER: Raffegeau TE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8920466 | biostudies-literature | 2022 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature