Article

Laboratory settings may differ from everyday life with respect to
factors such as attention, motivation, intention, and self-efficacy. Since those
factors are likely to influence subjects' performance on locomotor tasks, we
evaluated whether the age-related changes of locomotion previously observed under
laboratory conditions are equally present in a real life-like scenario. METHODS:
15 young and 15 older subjects walked along a marked path of 25 m length and 0.3m
width in a laboratory environment. 14 young and 13 older subjects walked in a
community park along a 3 km path, with a straight and level registration section
located after 1.5 km. RESULTS: Step duration was longer, angular limb excursion
was smaller, and the spatio-temporal gait variability was higher in the
laboratory than in the park. Analysis of co-variance revealed that these changes
cannot be traced back to a single cause. The variability of step duration and of
limb excursion increased in old age under laboratory conditions, but only the
latter parameter increased under real life-like conditions. Our
laboratory setting destabilized the gait pattern more than our real life-like
setting, thus accentuating age-related changes.
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Langue : ANGLAIS