Mechanical Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305-4038, USA.
Gait Posture. 2012 May;36(1):149-53. doi: 10.1016/j.gaitpost.2012.02.007. Epub 2012 Mar 24.
While age-related declines in walking mechanics have been documented, it remains unclear if changes in walking mechanics with age occur as a natural consequence of aging and to what extent these changes are related to a reduction in fitness and physical activity with aging. The study aim was to determine if the walking mechanics of an older (>50) yet highly active population are different from a younger population (<40). Gait mechanics data for 79 middle-aged (50-64 yrs) and 54 older (65-80 yrs) individuals with ≥ 7500 steps/day, based on a 7 day activity monitoring history, and 33 younger adults (ages 18-40) were collected. The older subjects did not reduce self-selected walking speed relative to the younger subjects. However, the walking speed was maintained by increasing cadence while reducing stride-length for middle-aged and older subjects. Middle-aged and older adults had less ankle dorsi-flexion landing at heel-strike and older adults also had less plantar flexion at toe-off. Small decreases in the ankle dorsi-flexion moments (p=0.019, p=0.008) and increases in the hip extension moments (p=0.004, p=0.005) were found for two normalized walking speeds for the middle-aged and older adults compared to the young adults. These results provide quantitative evidence that increased activity with aging can mitigate declines in walking performance and mechanics with age. The high volume of walking activity in the older subjects did not fully prevent changes in gait mechanics, but may have minimized the magnitude of age-related changes on ambulatory function relative to other reports of older inactive subjects.
虽然已经记录了与年龄相关的步行力学下降，但尚不清楚随着年龄的增长，步行力学的变化是否是衰老的自然结果，以及这些变化在多大程度上与随着年龄增长而导致的健康和身体活动减少有关。本研究旨在确定年龄较大（>50 岁）但仍高度活跃的人群的步行力学是否与年轻人群（<40 岁）不同。根据 7 天活动监测记录，收集了 79 名中年（50-64 岁）和 54 名老年（65-80 岁）个体的步态力学数据，这些个体每天的步数都≥7500 步，且年龄均在 33 岁以下（18-40 岁）。与年轻组相比，老年组并未降低自身选择的步行速度。然而，中年和老年组通过增加步频同时减少步长来维持步行速度。中年和老年组在足跟触地时踝关节背屈减少，老年组在足趾离地时跖屈减少。与年轻组相比，在两个标准化步行速度下，中年和老年组的踝关节背屈力矩（p=0.019，p=0.008）有小幅度下降，髋关节伸展力矩（p=0.004，p=0.005）有小幅度增加。这些结果提供了定量证据，表明随着年龄的增长，增加活动量可以减轻与年龄相关的步行表现和力学下降。与其他关于不活跃老年人群的报告相比，高龄人群的高步行量活动并未完全防止步态力学的变化，但可能最小化了与年龄相关的步行功能变化的幅度。
