Abstract
This study compares energy expenditure (EE), gait parameters (GP), and level of fatigue (LOF) between 5-minute walking with sharp turning (ST) and corner turning (CT). Data were obtained from 29 community-dwelling elderly (mean age, 62.7 ± 3.54 years). For 5 minutes, in ST task, participants walked on a 3-meter pathway with 2 cones placed at each end (180° turning), while in CT task, participants walked on a 6-meter pathway with 4 cones placed at 4 corners (90° turning). The physiological cost index, pedometer, and 10-point Modified Borg Dyspnoea Scale were used to measure EE (beats/min), GP (no of steps), and LOF, respectively. Data were analyzed by using independent t-tests. EE during ST (0.62 ± 0.21 beats/min) was significantly higher than CT (0.48 ± 0.17 beats/min) (P < 0.05). GP (434 ± 92.93 steps) and LOF (1.40 ± 1.11) in ST were found to be lower compared to GP (463 ± 92.18 steps) and LOF (1.54 ± 1.34) in CT (All, P > 0.05). Higher EE in ST could be due to the difficulty in changing to a 180° direction, which may involve agility and different turning strategies (step-turn or pivot-turn) to adjust the posture carefully. In CT, participants could choose a step-turn strategy to change to a 90° direction, which was less challenging to postural control.
Highlights
Age-related decline in sensory function and motor and neural processing, together with the common age-related diseases, results in balance impairment and increases the number of falls among older persons [1, 2]
The EE in ST is significantly higher as compared to EE in CT (P = 0.008), and this finding may indicate that less energy was utilized during corner turning than sharp turning
No significant differences were found in gait parameters (GP), level of fatigue (LOF), total distance walked (TD), and walking speed (WS) between ST and CT tasks
Summary
Age-related decline in sensory function and motor and neural processing, together with the common age-related diseases, results in balance impairment and increases the number of falls among older persons [1, 2]. Falls can lead to fear of falling, which results in progressive participation restriction [3] This problem, in turn, can lead to several impairments, such as decreased muscle strength, balance, mobility, agility, and walking abilities as well as endurance. These outcomes can further result in frailty, loss of independence, and recurrent falls [4, 5]. Staggering during turning, increased time, and the number of steps to complete turning are prominent characteristics of recurrent fallers [11]
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