Woledge Roger C, Birtles Deirdre B, Newham Di J
Centre for Applied Biomedical Research, School of Biomedical Sciences, Kings College London, Shepherds House, Guys Campus, London SE1 1UL, UK.
J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci. 2005 Nov;60(11):1463-8. doi: 10.1093/gerona/60.11.1463.
Because sideways falls are common in elderly persons, we devised a method to measure variable lateral movements of the thorax with respect to foot position during normal walking.
Movements of the ankles and shoulders were measured during walking a distance of 9 m. Two age groups were studied: young (n = 17, 6 male, mean age 27.3 years) and older (n = 21, 13 male, mean age 72.7 years) people. During walking, the path followed in the horizontal plane by the midpoint between the two shoulders was compared to the line connecting successive positions of the ankles during stance. Lateral deviations between these two paths were divided into a regular component (average of about 30 strides) and a variable component (the difference between the deviation during each stride and the average). Lateral sway was also observed while standing with eyes open for 1 minute.
The older group had more lateral movement during walking in the variable component (p =.006) and a nonsignificant trend (p =.054) in the same direction in the regular component. Eight of the older participants had a value for the variable component greater than the 95% confidence limit for the young participants. Only two of the older participants had a standing sway outside the confidence limit for the young participants. The variable component was associated with variability in stride width.
The variable component of lateral sway during walking provides good discrimination between age groups, as does variability in step width. It remains to be seen whether these variables are different in fallers and nonfallers.
由于侧摔在老年人中很常见，我们设计了一种方法来测量正常行走过程中胸部相对于足部位置的可变横向运动。
在行走9米的过程中测量脚踝和肩膀的运动。研究了两个年龄组：年轻人（n = 17，6名男性，平均年龄27.3岁）和老年人（n = 21，13名男性，平均年龄72.7岁）。在行走过程中，将双肩中点在水平面内所走的路径与站立期间脚踝连续位置的连线进行比较。这两条路径之间的横向偏差分为规则分量（约30步的平均值）和可变分量（每一步的偏差与平均值之间的差值）。还在睁眼站立1分钟时观察了横向摆动情况。
老年组在行走过程中的可变分量有更多的横向运动（p = 0.006），并且在规则分量中也有相同方向的非显著趋势（p = 0.054）。8名老年参与者的可变分量值大于年轻参与者的95%置信限。只有2名老年参与者的站立摆动超出了年轻参与者的置信限。可变分量与步幅宽度的变异性相关。
行走过程中横向摆动的可变分量以及步幅宽度的变异性在不同年龄组之间具有良好的区分度。这些变量在跌倒者和非跌倒者中是否存在差异还有待观察。
