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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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| A clinical measure of maximal and rapid stepping in older women | | Author(s) | Jodi L Medell, Neil B Alexander |
| Journal title | Journals of Gerontology: Series A, Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences, vol 55A, no 8, August 2000 |
| Pages | pp M429-M433 |
| Keywords | Falls ; At risk ; Mobility ; Older women ; Clinical surveys ; United States of America. |
| Annotation | In older people, clinical measures have been used to assess fall risk based on the ability to maintain stance or to complete a task. However, in an impending fall situation, a stepping response is often used when strategies to maintain stance are inadequate. The authors tested 32 women - 12 young (mean age 21), 12 unimpaired old (mean age 69) and 10 balance impaired (mean age 77) - for their ability to take a maximal step (Maximal Step Length or MSL), and in their ability to take rapid steps in three directions (front, side and back), termed the Rapid Step Test (RST). Substantial declines were found in the ability of both unimpaired and balance-impaired older women to step maximally and to step rapidly. The young women generally performed better and with fewer errors on both tests. Stepping performance is closely related to other measures of balance and fall risk and might be considered in future studies as a predictor of falls and fall-related injuries. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-001123201 A |
| Classmark | OLF: CA3: C4: BD: 3G: 7T |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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