Dataset Information

Healthy individuals are more maneuverable when walking slower while navigating a virtual obstacle course.

ABSTRACT: INTRODUCTION:Maintaining stability, especially in the mediolateral direction, is important for successful walking. Navigating in the community, however, may require people to reduce stability to make quick lateral transitions, creating a tradeoff between stability and maneuverability. Walking slower can improve stability during steady state walking, but there remains a need to better understand how walking speed influences maneuverability. This study investigated how walking at different speeds influenced how individuals modulate both stability and maneuverability in a virtual obstacle course. METHODS:Fifteen healthy adults walked on a treadmill in a virtual environment for 6 trials each at typical and slower speed. Participants made repeated transitions between virtual sets of arches displayed in any of 4 lanes. Participants were instructed to walk under the arches and hit as few arches as possible. To quantify stability, mean step width and mean lateral margin of stability (Mean MOS) were calculated and averaged for ipsilateral and contralateral steps. To quantify maneuverability, the number of arches hit when entering or exiting each arch set was calculated and averaged for each condition. RESULTS:Participants exhibited high levels of variability in their stepping patterns. Mean MOS and mean step width were significantly greater for the typical speed than slower speed for the ipsilateral steps (p?

SUBMITTER: Hsieh KL

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5866787 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Healthy individuals are more maneuverable when walking slower while navigating a virtual obstacle course.

Hsieh Katherine L KL Sheehan Riley C RC Wilken Jason M JM Dingwell Jonathan B JB

Gait & posture 20180214

<h4>Introduction</h4>Maintaining stability, especially in the mediolateral direction, is important for successful walking. Navigating in the community, however, may require people to reduce stability to make quick lateral transitions, creating a tradeoff between stability and maneuverability. Walking slower can improve stability during steady state walking, but there remains a need to better understand how walking speed influences maneuverability. This study investigated how walking at different ...[more]

PMID: 29494819

Similar Datasets

Project description:BACKGROUND:Community ambulation requires the ability to adapt walking patterns to task demands. For example, complex walking tasks, such as obstacle crossing (OBS) and backwards walking (BW), require modification of gait kinematics to complete the task, maintain stability and prevent falling. More women than men fall each year, but few studies have investigated gender differences in performance of adaptive walking tasks. OBJECTIVE:The purpose of this study was to determine gender differences in two common adaptive tasks. METHODS:Walking performance was assessed from 54 age and gender matched participants (72?±?5?yrs.) while they completed forward walking (FW), OBS and BW. Gait outcomes and the distance of the lead foot and the trail foot from the obstacle were normalized by leg length and assessed using multivariate analysis of variance. Additionally, performance in a battery of clinical physical and cognitive measures as well as self-reported activity levels were associated with adaptive gait behavior. RESULTS:Gait speed and step width were not different between genders in any walking task. Compared to FW and OBS, women only decreased step length in BW, resulting in significantly shorter step lengths than men in OBS (p?=?0.02) and BW (p?=?0.04), a conservative walking strategy. Women crossed the obstacle in a manner that may limit recovery steps in case of a trip: stepping closer to the obstacle during approach without increasing trail toe-clearance. The Timed Up and Go mobility test, Short Physical Performance Battery, and Trail Making Test of processing speed and executive function were associated with gender differences in adaptive gait patterns. CONCLUSION:The findings revealed that older adult women adapt walking in a way that might predispose them to tripping or falling (i.e. shorter steps and closer obstacle approach). Gender differences in adaptive walking are related to functional test performance and processing speed. Clinicians should consider targeting step length during adaptive walking tasks in women that may be at risk of mobility impairments.

Dataset Information

Healthy individuals are more maneuverable when walking slower while navigating a virtual obstacle course.

Publications

Healthy individuals are more maneuverable when walking slower while navigating a virtual obstacle course.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure