Affect Walking Speed Research Articles

Superficial warming and cooling of the leg affects walking speed and neuromuscular impairments in people with spastic paraparesis

BackgroundPeople with hereditary and spontaneous spastic paraparesis (HSSP) report that their legs are stiffer and walking is slower when their legs are cold. ObjectivesThis study explored the effects of prolonged superficial cooling and warming of the lower leg on walking speed and local measures of neuromuscular impairments. MethodsThis was a randomised pre- and post-intervention study of 22 HSSP participants and 19 matched healthy controls. On 2 separate occasions, one lower leg was cooled or warmed. Measurements included walking speed and measures of lower limb impairment: ankle movement, passive muscle stiffness, spasticity (stretch reflex size), amplitude and rate of force generation in dorsi- and plantarflexors and central and peripheral nerve conduction time/velocity. ResultsFor both participants and controls, cooling decreased walking speed, especially for HSSP participants. For both groups, cooling decreased the dorsiflexor rate and amplitude of force generation and peripheral nerve conduction velocity and increased spasticity. Warming increased dorsiflexor rate of force generation and nerve conduction velocity and decreased spasticity. ConclusionsSuperficial cooling significantly reduced walking speed for people with HSSP. Temperature changes were associated with changes in neuromuscular impairments for both people with spastic paraparesis and controls. This study does not support the use of localised cooling in rehabilitation for people with spastic paraparesis as reported in other neurological conditions. Rehabilitation interventions that help prevent heat loss (insulation) or improve limb temperature via passive or active means, particularly when the legs and/or environment are cool, may benefit people with spastic paraparesis.

Are there different factors affecting walking speed and gait cycle variability between men and women in community-dwelling older adults?

Few studies have examined the relationships between walking speed and gait cycle variability, and muscle strength and postural stability, with a focus on gender differences. The aim of this study was to examine whether there are different factors affecting walking speed and gait cycle variability between men and women in community-dwelling older adults. The subjects comprised 712 community-dwelling older adults (252 men, 460 women, aged 68.7±4.8years). Walking speed and coefficient of variation (CV) of step time at a comfortable walking pace were measured. The maximal isometric strength of six lower limb muscles and postural stability were evaluated. Stepwise regression analysis was performed, using lower limb muscle strength and postural stability as independent variables, to investigate the association with walking speed or CV. For older men, age, body mass index (BMI) and quadriceps setting (QS) strength were significant and independent determinants of walking speed. No variables were identified as significant determinants of CV. For older women, BMI and hip flexion, hip abduction, QS muscle strength were significant determinants of walking speed. Only hip abduction strength was a significant determinant of CV. The results of this study suggest that QS strength is related to walking speed in both men and women, whereas hip flexion and abduction muscle strength are related to walking speed, and hip abduction muscle strength is related to gait cycle variability in older women. Gender differences exist in factors affecting walking speed and gait cycle variability in community-dwelling older adults.

Pedestrian compliance and cross walking speed adaptation due to countdown timer installations: A self report study

Although they are aware of the possible risk, a high number of pedestrians still violate the red light indication and cross the road illegally. This hazardous behaviour may cause incidents between them and the road vehicles. In order to reduce this illegal behaviour, the traffic signals are equipped with countdown timers, in order to provide more information and decrease pedestrians’ noncompliant behaviour. The main purpose of the present paper is to investigate the influence of countdown timers on pedestrians’ compliance regarding their crossing behaviour at intersections as well as to examine the parameters affecting walking speed adaptation. In the context of this analysis two regression models were developed. The first model is a binary logistic regression model which examines pedestrians’ self reported compliance. The results showed that the gender, the age, the perceived comfort and the seconds remaining for the onset of red light are the main parameters that affect compliance. The second model is an ordinal regression model which examines the factors that make pedestrians adapt their walking speed as they are crossing the road and are informed by the countdown timers about the second remaining for the termination of the green phase. The results of the second model revealed that the age, the compliance and the perceived assistance that the countdown timer provides for the walking speed adaptation affect the minimum remaining time before a pedestrian accelerates.

Ascending Stair Evacuation: What do We Know?

During ascending evacuation in long stairs, there is reason to believe that factors such as physical exhaustion, human behaviour and the mental state will influence the possibility of satisfactory evacuation and affect walking speed and flow rate of people. Based on these hypotheses, a research project was initiated. As a part of the project, an initial literature study has been conducted. The literature study has made an attempt to summarize the most important findings of previous research about physical exhaustion and design of stairs for ascending evacuation in long stairs. This paper presents the findings from the literature study.

Assessing the Reliability and Validity of a Shorter Walk Test Compared With the 10-Meter Walk Test for Measurements of Gait Speed in Healthy, Older Adults

Walking speed is associated with several health-related outcomes. Research examining how differences in test walking distance affect walking speed reliability and validity is limited. The primary purpose of this study was to examine the reliability and concurrent validity of gait speed measurements obtained from a 4-Meter Walk Test compared with the commonly used 10-Meter Walk Test. A second objective was to similarly examine 2 different timing methods: stopwatch and automatic timers. Forty-three healthy, older adults (mean age = 84.3 ± 6.9 years) performed 3 consecutive walking trials on the 4- and 10-Meter Walk Tests at their self-selected walking speed. Gait speed measurements for both tests were shown to have excellent test-retest reliability (ICC values of 0.96-0.98), with similar results for stopwatch and automatic timer assessments (ICC values of 0.99-1.00). Standard error of the measurement (SEM) values were small (0.004-0.008 m/s) across measurement methods. While the ICC value for gait speed measurements between the 2 walk tests was 0.93, the Bland-Altman analysis revealed a discrepancy of ±0.15 to ±0.17 m/s between measurement methods. Both 4- and 10-m gait speed assessments had excellent test-retest reliability with similar SEM and minimal detectable change values. There was little difference in SEM values between the 2 timing methods. While the mean difference in gait speed between the 4- and 10-Meter Walk Tests was small, the range of the measurement differences was large enough to potentially mask meaningful changes in gait speed over time if both methods were used interchangeably. While the reliability of both walking tests is excellent, the 4-Meter Walk Test does not exhibit a high enough degree of concurrent validity with the 10-Meter Walk Test to be used interchangeably for gait speed assessments in healthy, older adults. We therefore recommend using the 10-Meter Walk Test to obtain the most valid clinical assessment of walking speed when using it as a 1-time indicator of health status.

Determining an influencing area affecting walking speed on footpath: A case study of a footpath in CBD Bangkok, Thailand

Intuitively, the crowd density in front of a pedestrian will affect his walking speed along a footpath. Nevertheless, the size of the influencing area affecting walking speed has rarely been scrutinized in the past. This study attempts to determine the distance in front of pedestrians that principally affects their walking speed under normal conditions, using a case study of a footpath in Bangkok. We recorded pedestrian activities along a test section of 20 m, with an effective walking width of 2.45 m in the morning and at noon. The morning dataset was extracted for analyzing various influencing distances, ranging from 1 to 20 m in front of the pedestrian. The bi-directional walking speed–pedestrian density models were developed, for each tested distance, using linear regression analysis. It was found that an influencing length in the range of 5–8 m yields the highest correlation coefficients. In the case of high density conditions, the walking speed of the equally-split flow (50:50) was found to be higher than other proportional flow analyzed. The finding has useful implications on the improvement of the walking simulations in mesoscopic models.

Motivation of sheep to eat clover offered in a short-term closed economy test

Six sheep were trained, over a period of 11 weeks, to work for a reward of freshly cut clover by walking along a variable length, U-shaped race. Training included habituation to the presence of an observer and to isolation from conspecifics. Following training, motivation to eat clover was tested by varying the work (distance walked) required to access a 5 g (dry matter) clover reward. Each sheep was tested using three different race lengths (3, 8 or 20 m) in random order on three different days. In each test, the sheep were allowed up to 1 h to access the reward 25 times. The sheep could only obtain clover in the reward area but could graze grass at all other times. There was a linear decline in the number of visits to the reward area within 1 h ( P = 0.05) as the distance walked increased. Distance walked did not significantly affect walking speed in the race ( P = 0.10). The latency between visits showed a linear decline as number of visits increased ( P = 0.01). The total amount of clover consumed and the time spent in race transit and reward area residency were used to calculate effective clover intake rates for each treatment (5.1, 4.4 and 3.7 g DM min −1). Theoretical calculations indicated that there would be a net energy benefit from obtaining the clover reward at the two shorter distance treatments, but that using the system at the longest distance would only yield a very small energy benefit.

How is walking speed related to muscle strength? A study of healthy persons and persons with late effects of polio

Willén C, Sunnerhagen KS, Ekman C, Grimby G. How is walking speed related to muscle strength? A study of healthy persons and persons with late effects of polio. Objectives To evaluate the relationship between walking speed and muscle strength in the lower extremities in healthy persons and in persons with late effects of polio and to compare the models for these relationships. Design Retrospective analysis. Setting University hospital department. Participants An urban sample of 144 healthy men and women (age range, 40–79y) and 234 (146 women, 88 men) subjects with late polio. Interventions Not applicable. Main outcome measures Muscle strength in the lower extremities was measured and combined into an index. Walking speed for spontaneous and maximal walking was measured. A nonlinear regression model was developed. Results Evidence was provided for the nonlinear relationship between walking speed and strength. A specific strength threshold could not be identified. The asymptote of this curve for maximal walking was 2.57m/s in the healthy group and 2.02m/s in the subjects with late effects of polio. A high body mass index (>25kg/m 2) lowered the asymptote. Conclusions It is important to prevent strength decrease that approaches the critical level where a further reduction affects walking speed more evidently. The difference in the relationship between muscle strength and walking speed for the 2 groups studied may partly depend on biomechanic imbalance between muscle groups.

Body size effects on locomotion and load carriage in the highly polymorphic leaf-cutting ants Atta colombica and Atta cephalotes

Leaf-cutting ants reduce their walking speed under the weight of the leaf fragments they carry, an effect likely to have some consequence for the foraging performance of a colony. I manipulated loads carried by workers from two Atta species to determine how load mass and body size affect walking speed. A comparison of speeds before and after load manipulation indicates that change in load mass has a linear effect on velocity. Several different regression models of speed as a function of loads and body size have similar fit to the data, so a single best model cannot easily be identified. However, there is statistical evidence that the slope of the linear effect is more pronounced for smaller ants, an outcome most consistent with a regression model based on loading ratio, a metric that scales load mass relative to body mass. I then examined the effect of loading ratio on the leaf transport rate (the product of load mass and carriage velocity). It has been claimed that this rate is maximized over a range of loading ratios that is the same for all ants regardless of their size. However, I found that a latent body mass effect persists in the relation of transport rate to loading ratio, even though loading ratio is already scaled relative to body mass. The maxima seem to be reached only at artificially elevated loading ratios, so that transport rates with natural fragments tend to be sub-maximal. This conclusion is in agreement with analytical predictions of rate-maximizing load masses derived from the regression models. Thus, loading ratio does not adequately scale load mass relative to body size when used in this context (effect on leaf transport rate), and should be used cautiously. Ants are likely to accommodate loads through modulation of both stride length and step frequency, but precisely how this takes place requires future study. Key words: ants, Atta, central place foraging, Formicidae, walking speed, scaling. [Behav Ecol 11:125–131 (2000)]

Age-Associated Gait Changes in the Elderly: Pathological or Physiological?

To examine the role of disease-related factors and age-related physiological changes in affecting gait speed and stride length in the elderly. 925 men and 890 women aged 70 years and above who were ambulant, recruited by random sampling stratified according to age and sex, from all recipients of Old Age and Disability Allowance in Hong Kong. Gait was assessed by measuring the time taken and the number of steps required to complete a 16-foot walk. Information on health and functional status, cognitive function, and depressive symptoms was collected, and anthropometric indices obtained. Factors affecting walking speed and stride were examined in the overall population and also after excluding those with physical disability or diseases. Results were analyzed separately for men and women since mean walking speed was slower in women, who also took a larger number of steps. Age, coexisting disease, leg or back pain, poor vision, low level of physical activity, functional and cognitive impairment, high depressive symptom score, and anthropometric indices were all negatively associated with walking speed. Fallers also had slower speed. After excluding those with diseases or physical impairment, multivariate analysis showed that the only factors affecting speed were age in men, and age, height, and level of physical activity in women. Age and height were factors associated with stride length in men, and height only for women. Both disease-related factors as well as age-related physiological changes contribute to the decline in walking speed and stride length.

Observation study on natural walking in the Tokyo metropolitan.

In this study, data on walking speed, step numbers, cadence of natural walking were collected and their relations to foot wear, clothing, luggage carried and time of the day as well as crowdedness were investigated. This survey was held in Shinjuku, Tokyo in 1991. Six thousand three hundred and seventy nine walking people were observed from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm. Ten students who were trained to observe the walking were employed for the data collection. The observed subjects were divided into three age groups, namely young (less than 30 years), middle (31-60 years) and elder (over 61 years), and their age groups were decided by the students based on their appearance. For the analysis, they were further classified into male and female groups. The factors which affect walking speed, step number and cadence were taken into consideration. It was found that young people were more sensitive to their factors in their natural walking and old people showed lower flexibility to these factors.

Factors Affecting Walking Speed of Elderly People

Associations between walking speed and other variables have been investigated in a group of 67 women and 58 men aged between 65 and 90 years and living independently. In men, walking speed was related positively to calf strength, step-score (a measure of customary physical activity), hours spent in active leisure, height and weight, and negatively to age and the presence of health problems. In women, the relations were the same, with the exception of weight, and reported leg pain was negatively associated with walking speed. Multiple regression analysis showed that in men 44% of the variance in walking speed was accounted for by height, calf strength and the presence of health problems, and that in women 42% of the variance was accounted for by height, calf strength, step-score and the presence of leg pain limiting mobility. The significance of these findings to maintenance and improvement of walking speed in the elderly is discussed.