Article

Everyday ambulation requires navigation of variable terrain,
transitions from wide to narrow pathways, and avoiding obstacles. While the
effect of age on the transition to a narrow path has been examined briefly,
little is known about the impact of fear of falling on gait during the transition
to a narrow path. The purpose was to examine the effect of age and fear of
falling on gait during transition to a narrow path. METHODS: In 31 young, mean
age=25.3 years, and 30 older adults, mean age=79.6 years, step length, step time,
step width and gait speed were examined during usual and transition to narrow
pathway using an instrumented walkway. FINDINGS: During the transition to narrow
walk condition, fearful older adults compared to young had a wider step width
(0.06 m vs 0.04 m) prior to the narrow path and took shorter steps (0.53 m vs
0.72 m; p<0.001). Compared to non-fearful older adults, fearful older adults
walked slower and took shorter steps during narrow path walking (gait speed:
1.1m/s vs 0.82 m/s; p=0.01; step length: 0.60 m vs 0.47 m; p=0.03). In young and
non-fearful older adults narrow path gait was similar to usual gait. Whereas
older adults who were fearful, walked slower (0.82 m/s vs 0.91 m/s; p=0.001) and
took shorter steps (0.44 m vs 0.53 m; p=0.004) during narrow path walking
compared to usual walking. INTERPRETATION: Changes in gait characteristics with
transitioning to a narrow pathway were greater for fear of falling than for age.
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Langue : ANGLAIS