Article

This study assessed the test-retest reliability of a foot placement
accuracy protocol in a population of assisted-living elderly. The goal was to
evaluate the execution of foot placement performance with increasing complexity
of the walking condition. METHODS: Twenty-five elderly participants (5 males, 20
females, 80.4+/-8.6 years) were assessed by one observer in two sessions with 48
h between the measurements. Participants walked at self-selected pace along a
pathway with three different walking conditions composed of two rectangular foam
target locations and an obstacle on the walking surface. The main outcome
measures were foot placement distance error, intra-class correlation coefficients
(ICC), and the smallest detectable difference (SDD). RESULTS: Mean absolute
values of the foot placement distance errors were 14.0+/-4.5 mm for medio-lateral
deviation and 27.2+/-2.1 mm for anterior-posterior deviation, respectively. ICC
values for test-retest reliability showed 'fair to good' to 'excellent'
reliability across all conditions with values ranging from 0.63 to 0.94. SDD
values were between 3.6 and 37.3mm. CONCLUSION: The protocol showed good
reliability for test-retest measurements of foot placement accuracy, thus making
this protocol a reliable and location-independent tool to assess performance of
foot placement in elderly in assisted-living settings. In the future,
measurements with elderly fallers and non-fallers should be conducted to assess
validity of the protocol.
CI - Copyright (c) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Langue : ANGLAIS