Timed limb coordination performance is associated with walking speed in healthy older adults: a cross-sectional exploratory study.

Walking speed reflects quality of life, health status and physical function in older adults but interpreting measures of walking speed is affected by several confounders such as gender, age and height. Additionally, walking speed is influenced by neurologic conditions that impair limb coordination. In absence of defined pathology, it is less clear how varying levels of limb coordination influence walking speed. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between limb coordination and walking speed in older adults, controlling for effects of gender, age and height. Sixty-nine healthy, community-dwelling individuals over the age of 60 participated in the study. Participants completed a battery of timed upper and lower limb coordination tests. Normal and fast walking speed were measured over the inner six meters of a 10 m walkway. Correlation and regression analyses were used to examine the relationship between limb coordination performance and walking speed. Controlling for gender, age and height, variance in normal walking speed was accounted for by variance in pronation-supination performance (partial r = -0.396, partial r(2) = 0.16) and variance in fast walking speed was accounted for by variance in finger-to-nose performance (partial r = -0.356, partial r(2) = 0.13). The findings support our hypothesis that limb coordination performance would correlate with walking speed in healthy older adults. Moreover, limb coordination performance attenuated the effects of gender, age and height on walking speed. Limb coordination may be a modifiable determinant of walking speed in older adults.

Values for timed limb coordination tests in a sample of healthy older adults.

BACKGROUND: timed limb coordination tests are reliable measures of motor performance but many lack published reference values. OBJECTIVE: to determine mean values for timed tests in an older cohort, examining associations with anthropometric characteristics, handedness, gender and age. DESIGN: cross-sectional. SETTING: community. SUBJECTS: sixty-nine healthy adults divided into three groups: 60-69, 70-79 and 80+ years. METHODS: height, weight and time to complete five repetitions of finger-to-nose, pronation-supination, mass grasp, opposition and heel-on-shin were recorded. Performances were statistically compared with anthropometric characteristics, handedness and across age groups and gender. RESULTS: for all tests, height negatively correlated with speed (r = -0.26 to -0.41). Weight negatively correlated with performance of two tests (r = -0.25 to -0.35). When covariates were controlled, men performed heel-on-shin faster than women. The youngest group completed upper extremity tests faster than the oldest. Adults in their 70 s completed finger-to-nose and pronation-supination faster than persons aged 80+ years. CONCLUSIONS: we report mean values for five clinical tests of timed limb coordination that may aid in identifying mild deficits in otherwise healthy older adults.