title: Reliability of gait parameters during treadmill walking in community-dwelling healthy seniors.
abstract: The present study aimed at assessing the between- and within-day-variability of temporal and spatial gait characteristics during treadmill walking in community-dwelling seniors. In 20 active, healthy seniors (10 women, 10 men, age: 64.8 (SD 3.2) years, height: 1.70 (0.10) m, weight: 69.7 (10.9) kg, physical activity: 11 (6) h week(-1)) gait characteristics were assessed on three days in weekly intervals (between-day variability). Either on days two or three, testing was repeated 30 min after the initial trial (within-day variability). We determined routine spatio-temporal gait parameters as well as gait variability during 400 steps at a normal walking speed (5.0 (0.4) km h(-1)) on a one-dimensional ground reaction force measuring treadmill. No significant mean differences occurred in any parameter for between- and within-day comparisons. Between-day ICC were high (ICC≥0.86) for most parameters except for temporal (ICC=0.44) and spatial (ICC=0.22) gait variability. Coefficients of variation (CoV) were also high in the latter parameters (CoV=30.2-36.1%), whereas all other variables showed clearly lower values (CoV<7%). CoV were still lower between days 2 and 3 (CoV<5%). Compared to between-day comparisons, within-day variability was comparable in spatio-temporal gait parameters (CoV<5%, ICC≥0.97) and lower in gait variability parameters (CoV<18%, ICC≥0.72-0.74). In conclusion, most gait parameters were highly reliable during treadmill walking. Changes of less than 10% can be detected with sufficient confidence. Gait variability parameters were less reliable and, thus, should be carefully interpreted.
authors.affiliation: University of Basel, Institute of Exercise and Health Sciences, Birsstr. 320B, 4052 Basel, Switzerland. oliver.faude@unibas.ch
authors.forename: Oliver
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Faude
authors.forename: Lars
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Donath
authors.forename: Ralf
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Roth
authors.forename: Livia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Fricker
authors.forename: Lukas
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zahner
mesh_terms: D000054:Acceleration; D000058:Accidental Falls / Q000517:prevention & control; D000368:Aged; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D015331:Cohort Studies; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D005080:Exercise Test / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D005684:Gait / Q000502:physiology*; D015577:Geriatric Assessment / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D057187:Independent Living; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010809:Physical Fitness / Q000502:physiology; D004856:Postural Balance / Q000502:physiology*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012016:Reference Values; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D016138:Walking / Q000502:physiology