title: Analysis of pelvic movement in the elderly during walking using a posture monitoring system equipped with a triaxial accelerometer and a gyroscope.
abstract: The incidence of falls in the elderly is increasing with the aging of society and is becoming a major public health issue. From the viewpoint of prevention of falls, it is important to evaluate the stability of the gait in the elderly people. The pelvic movement, which is a critical factor for walking stability, was analyzed using a posture monitoring system equipped with a triaxial accelerometer and a gyroscope. The subjects were 95 elderly people over 60 years of age. The criteria for instability were open-eye standing on one leg for 15s or less, and 11s or more on 3m timed up and go test. Forty subjects who did not meet both of these criteria comprised the stable group, and the remaining 55 subjects comprised the unstable group. Pelvic movement during walking was compared between the two groups. The angle, angular velocity, and acceleration were analyzed based on the wave shape derived from the device worn around the second sacral. The results indicated that pelvic movement was lower in all three directions in the unstable group compared to the stable group, and the changes in the pelvic movement during walking in unstable elderly people were also reduced. This report is the first to evaluate pelvic movement by both a triaxial accelerometer and a triaxial gyroscope simultaneously. The characteristics of pelvic movement during walking can be applied in screening to identify elderly people with instability, which is the main risk factor associated with falls.
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Shinshu University School of Medicine, Matsumoto, Japan.
authors.forename: Norio
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ishigaki
authors.forename: Teiji
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kimura
authors.forename: Yuki
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Usui
authors.forename: Kaoru
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Aoki
authors.forename: Nobuyo
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Narita
authors.forename: Masayuki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Shimizu
authors.forename: Kazuo
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hara
authors.forename: Nobuhide
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ogihara
authors.forename: Koichi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nakamura
authors.forename: Hiroyuki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kato
authors.forename: Masayoshi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ohira
authors.forename: Yoshiharu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yokokawa
authors.forename: Kei
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Miyoshi
authors.forename: Narumichi
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Murakami
authors.forename: Shinpei
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Okada
authors.forename: Tomokazu
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nakamura
authors.forename: Naoto
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Saito
mesh_terms: D000054:Acceleration; D000058:Accidental Falls / Q000517:prevention & control*; D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D005260:Female; D005684:Gait; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008991:Monitoring, Physiologic / Q000379:methods*; D009068:Movement; D010388:Pelvis / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology; D011187:Posture; D013997:Time Factors; D016138:Walking