Article

The present study aimed at assessing the between- and within-day-variability of
temporal and spatial gait characteristics during treadmill walking in
community-dwelling seniors. In 20 active, healthy seniors (10 women, 10 men, age:
64.8 (SD 3.2) years, height: 1.70 (0.10) m, weight: 69.7 (10.9) kg, physical
activity: 11 (6) h week(-1)) gait characteristics were assessed on three days in
weekly intervals (between-day variability). Either on days two or three, testing
was repeated 30 min after the initial trial (within-day variability). We
determined routine spatio-temporal gait parameters as well as gait variability
during 400 steps at a normal walking speed (5.0 (0.4) km h(-1)) on a
one-dimensional ground reaction force measuring treadmill. No significant mean
differences occurred in any parameter for between- and within-day comparisons.
Between-day ICC were high (ICC>/=0.86) for most parameters except for temporal
(ICC=0.44) and spatial (ICC=0.22) gait variability. Coefficients of variation
(CoV) were also high in the latter parameters (CoV=30.2-36.1%), whereas all other
variables showed clearly lower values (CoV<7%). CoV were still lower between days
2 and 3 (CoV<5%). Compared to between-day comparisons, within-day variability was
comparable in spatio-temporal gait parameters (CoV<5%, ICC>/=0.97) and lower in
gait variability parameters (CoV<18%, ICC>/=0.72-0.74). In conclusion, most gait
parameters were highly reliable during treadmill walking. Changes of less than
10% can be detected with sufficient confidence. Gait variability parameters were
less reliable and, thus, should be carefully interpreted.
CI - Copyright (c) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Langue : ANGLAIS