Full length articleSpatial and temporal gait characteristics of elderly individuals during backward and forward walking with shoes and barefoot
Section snippets
Background
Backward walking (BW) is an inherent component of mobility and function in daily activities, such as opening a door, backing away from a sink or stepping back from a curb as a swiftly moving bus passes [1]. BW has some benefits beyond those provided by forward walking (FW) alone [2], as it imposes less biomechanical strain on the knees [3], [4]. Accordingly, BW has been used as an intervention tool for a variety of orthopedic and neurological pathologies, such as stroke and knee joint
Subjects
Elderly individuals who met the following inclusion criteria were recruited for this study: age at least 65 years; able to walk 50 m without an assistive device. Exclusion criteria were: fracture of the lower limb in the past two years; deformation or structural changes in the foot (such as toe amputation, hammer toe, etc.); foot ulcers due to illness (such as diabetes); blindness or severe visual dysfunction not corrected with glasses or contact lenses; neurological pathologies; unstable heart
Results
Forty-seven elderly individuals (13 men and 34 women, 76.7 ± 7.7 years of age) were included in the study. Demographic characteristics, results of the ABC questionnaire, MoCA test and the performance based clinical measures of balance are presented in Table 1. Cognitive status of the subjects was in the normal range for their age. The mean BBS and TUG values indicated no balance deficits. Results (mean ± SD) of the spatio-temporal outcome measures in each of the four walking conditions are presented
Discussion
This is the first study to compare the spatio-temporal gait characteristics of BW while walking with and without shoes. It further examined whether similar differences resulting from the removal of footwear are observed during FW. The results indicate that wearing shoes has a different effect on forward versus backward walking. Wearing shoes while FW presented a significantly increased stride length and DLS with decreased cadence, with no change in gait velocity compare to barefoot FW. Similar
Conclusion
This study investigated the spatio-temporal characteristics of BW and FW while barefoot versus wearing shoes at a comfortable walking speed among elderly independent walkers. Wearing shoes affects backward versus forward walking differently. Better performance was demonstrated walking backwards while barefoot as reflected in faster gait velocity and increased cadence, along with lower DLS. The findings of this study extend the available information on footwear-related differences in
Conflict of interest
The authors have no financial and personal relationships with other people or organizations that could inappropriately influence (bias) their work.
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