The relationship between gait features at usual speed and falls among community-dwelling elderly people / 中华护理杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To explore gait features at usual speed of community-dwelling elderly people,and its relationship with history of falls in the past one year.Methods According to history of falls in the past one year,135elderly people in Hefei City were recruited and divided into fallers(23 cases) and non-fallers(112 cases).Self-designed questionnaires were completed by all participants to collect data including gender,age,frequency of exercise,BMI,Barthel Index,MMSE,fear of fall and so on.Gait parameters were measured by IDEEA LifeGait when participants walked for 10 meters at usual speed.Results Between fallers with non-fallers,the time of Timed Up and Go Test had statistically significant differences(P＜0.05).Gait analysis results showed that swing power,foot fall,preswing angle,speed had statistically significant differences between two groups (all P＜0.05).Conclusion When community-dwelling elderly people are walking at usual speed,the shorter of the time of Timed Up and Go Test,the weaker of swing power,foot fall and pre-swing angle and the slower speed is,the more possible falls will occur.