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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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| Physical fatigue affects gait characteristics in older persons | | Author(s) | Jorunn L Helbostad, Sara Leirfall, Rolf Moe-Nilssen |
| Journal title | Journals of Gerontology: Series A, Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences, vol 62A, no 9, September 2007 |
| Pages | pp 1010-1015 |
| Source | http://www.geron.org |
| Keywords | Mobility ; Stress ; At risk ; Falls ; Norway. |
| Annotation | Balance and gait problems increase fall risk, and this study investigates how a repeated sit-to-stand task affected gait control in older people. 22 people (mean age 78) took part in a fatigue group (FG) and 22 people (mean age 80) in a matched control group (CG). Participants walked back and forth on a walkway at different walking speeds. Gait data were adjusted for pre-test post-test differences in walking speed. The FG participants were physically fatigued by a repeated sit-to-stand task. There were no group differences in preferred gait speed or in step length following the fatiguing task, but there were significant increases in step width. Gait changes following a physical fatiguing task agree with changes previously found in older people at risk of falling, suggesting that physical fatigue may represent a risk factor for falls in older people. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-080305206 A |
| Classmark | C4: QNH: CA3: OLF: 76N |
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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