Older adults exhibit lesser smoothness despite increased caution than younger adults when navigating turns during walking

IF 1.6 3区心理学 Q4 NEUROSCIENCES

Human Movement Science Pub Date : 2025-02-01 DOI:10.1016/j.humov.2025.103320

Kevin Lima , Andrew D. Shelton , Jessica L. Allen , Vicki S. Mercer , Jason R. Franz

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Straight line walking currently dominates research into mechanisms associated with walking-related instability; however, the dynamics of everyday walking behavior are far more complex. The figure-8 walk test (F8W) is a clinically-feasible activity that focuses on turning mobility and provides a convenient and relevant task for understanding age-related differences in walking beyond our present knowledge of steady-state behavior. Our purpose was to investigate the effects of age (n = 30 older versus n = 31 younger adults) on path characteristics and the “smoothness” of turning mobility – herein measured via normalized center of mass jerk - during the F8W. Compared to younger adults, older adults completed the F8W with longer paths and slower speeds. We interpret this outcome to suggest that older adults adopt a more cautious strategy when navigating turns during walking than younger adults. In addition, older adults completed the F8W with increased jerk and thus lesser smoothness than younger adults. Thus, despite adopting what we view as a more cautious strategy of longer and wider paths, older adults have worse movement quality and thus perhaps lesser stability than younger adults during turning tasks critical to safe and effective community ambulation.

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尽管老年人在行走时比年轻人更加谨慎，但他们在转弯时表现出的平稳性不如年轻人。

直线行走目前主导了与行走相关的不稳定性相关机制的研究；然而，日常行走行为的动态要复杂得多。8字形行走测试（F8W）是一项临床可行的活动，侧重于转向灵活性，并为理解年龄相关的行走差异提供了一个方便和相关的任务，超出了我们目前对稳态行为的了解。我们的目的是研究年龄（n = 30名老年人和n = 31名年轻人）对F8W期间路径特征和转弯灵活性的“平稳性”的影响（这里通过标准化质心抖动来测量）。与年轻人相比，老年人完成F8W的路径更长，速度更慢。我们对这一结果的解释是，老年人在行走时比年轻人在转弯时采取更谨慎的策略。此外，与年轻人相比，老年人完成F8W时抽搐增加，因此平滑度较低。因此，尽管我们认为老年人采取了更谨慎的策略，选择了更长更宽的路径，但老年人的运动质量更差，因此在进行对安全有效的社区行走至关重要的转弯任务时，他们的稳定性可能不如年轻人。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Human Movement Science 医学-神经科学

CiteScore

3.80

自引率

4.80%

发文量

审稿时长

42 days

期刊介绍： Human Movement Science provides a medium for publishing disciplinary and multidisciplinary studies on human movement. It brings together psychological, biomechanical and neurophysiological research on the control, organization and learning of human movement, including the perceptual support of movement. The overarching goal of the journal is to publish articles that help advance theoretical understanding of the control and organization of human movement, as well as changes therein as a function of development, learning and rehabilitation. The nature of the research reported may vary from fundamental theoretical or empirical studies to more applied studies in the fields of, for example, sport, dance and rehabilitation with the proviso that all studies have a distinct theoretical bearing. Also, reviews and meta-studies advancing the understanding of human movement are welcome. These aims and scope imply that purely descriptive studies are not acceptable, while methodological articles are only acceptable if the methodology in question opens up new vistas in understanding the control and organization of human movement. The same holds for articles on exercise physiology, which in general are not supported, unless they speak to the control and organization of human movement. In general, it is required that the theoretical message of articles published in Human Movement Science is, to a certain extent, innovative and not dismissible as just "more of the same."