Article

Walking speed reflects quality of life, health status and physical function in
older adults but interpreting measures of walking speed is affected by several
confounders such as gender, age and height. Additionally, walking speed is
influenced by neurologic conditions that impair limb coordination. In absence of
defined pathology, it is less clear how varying levels of limb coordination
influence walking speed.
The purpose of this study was to examine the
relationship between limb coordination and walking speed in older adults,
controlling for effects of gender, age and height. Sixty-nine healthy,
community-dwelling individuals over the age of 60 participated in the study.
Participants completed a battery of timed upper and lower limb coordination
tests. Normal and fast walking speed were measured over the inner six meters of a
10 m walkway. Correlation and regression analyses were used to examine the
relationship between limb coordination performance and walking speed. Controlling
for gender, age and height, variance in normal walking speed was accounted for by
variance in pronation-supination performance (partial r = -0.396, partial r(2) =
0.16) and variance in fast walking speed was accounted for by variance in
finger-to-nose performance (partial r = -0.356, partial r(2) = 0.13). The
findings support our hypothesis that limb coordination performance would
correlate with walking speed in healthy older adults. Moreover, limb coordination
performance attenuated the effects of gender, age and height on walking speed.
Limb coordination may be a modifiable determinant of walking speed in older adults.
CI - Copyright (c) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Langue : ANGLAIS