Department of Health & Exercise Science, Colorado State University, CO, USA.
School of Biomedical Engineering, Colorado State University, USA.
Gait Posture. 2019 Mar;69:36-39. doi: 10.1016/j.gaitpost.2019.01.019. Epub 2019 Jan 14.
The six-minute walk test (6MWT) is used within clinical and research settings to assess gait performance across a variety of conditions and populations. Commonly, the test is used to identify specific aspects of gait that affect functional mobility. With the advancement of new technologies such as wireless inertial sensors, it has become possible to collect reliable, sensitive, and objective measures of gait. While the 6MWT has been accepted and used for many years, a more concise, while still objective gait analysis would likely benefit clinicians, researchers and patients.
Does a concise 2-minute walk test (2MWT) provide similar information regarding gait performance and gait differences as the 6MWT in healthy young (YA) and older adults (OA)?
A total of thirty-one participants (sixteen young adults and fifteen older adults) conducted a continuous 6MWT at their self-selected pace. All participants wore six wireless inertial sensors which were placed on each foot, at the lumbar, sternum, and on each wrist. Once completed the 6MWT data was spliced into three, distinct two-minute segments. Spliced data was analyzed and compared between groups and segments.
Results demonstrate significant age-related differences in several gait metrics, primarily with older adults showing increased spatiotemporal variability. Additionally, no significant differences were observed between the three, two-minute segments and the continuous 6MWT, with the exception of total number of strides completed.
These results demonstrate that the 2MWT may provide a preferable alternative to assessing gait performance by reducing confounds such as fatigue while maintaining sensitivity of measuring gait performance. These improvements may be particularly beneficial when studying populations of advanced age or with neurological disorder.
六分钟步行测试（6MWT）常用于临床和研究环境中，以评估各种情况下和不同人群的步态表现。通常，该测试用于识别影响功能移动性的特定步态方面。随着无线惯性传感器等新技术的进步，已经可以可靠、敏感和客观地测量步态。虽然 6MWT 已经被接受并使用了多年，但更简洁的步态分析方法可能会使临床医生、研究人员和患者受益。
在健康的年轻人（YA）和老年人（OA）中，简短的两分钟步行测试（2MWT）是否能提供与 6MWT 相似的关于步态表现和步态差异的信息？
共有 31 名参与者（16 名年轻人和 15 名老年人）以自选速度连续进行 6MWT。所有参与者都佩戴了六个无线惯性传感器，分别放在每只脚、腰部、胸骨和每个手腕上。完成 6MWT 后，将数据拼接成三个独立的两分钟片段。对拼接数据进行分析，并在组间和片段间进行比较。
结果表明，在几个步态指标上，存在显著的与年龄相关的差异，主要是老年人表现出更大的时空变异性。此外，三个两分钟片段与连续的 6MWT 之间没有观察到显著差异，除了完成的总步数。
这些结果表明，2MWT 可以通过减少疲劳等混淆因素来提供评估步态表现的替代方法，同时保持测量步态表现的敏感性。当研究高龄或神经障碍人群时，这些改进可能特别有益。
