Article

We assessed age-related differences in adults in familiarization to treadmill
walking within virtual environments (VE), and examined whether treadmill walking
after familiarization resembles overground walking. Seventeen younger and 17
older adults walked at preferred speed on an overground walkway and afterwards
walked at the same speed for 20 min on a treadmill coupled to a VE. A motion
capture system was used to measure spatio-temporal gait parameters. On the
treadmill, both younger and older adults initially displayed decreased step
length and increased step width, cadence, and time in double support relative to
overground walking. Except for time in double support, step characteristics
approached overground walking-behavior with a negatively accelerated trend. After
15 min of treadmill walking, changes became minor corresponding to less than 1%
deviations to individuals' overground walking. At the end of familiarization,
average differences in step length, cadence, and double support relative to
overground walking were reduced to less than 5 percent in both age groups. For
step width, younger adults approximated overground walking after 20 min more
closely than older adults, probably reflecting larger initial differences between
treadmill and overground walking among older adults. We conclude (a) that 20 min
of familiarization to treadmill walking in a VE are sufficient to reach stable
walking patterns resembling those observed in overground walking, but that some
differences between the two settings remain, especially in older adults; (b) that
sufficient familiarization to the treadmill is needed to ascertain the validity
and generalizability of comparisons between younger and older adults.
CI - Copyright 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Langue : ANGLAIS