title: A behavioral mechanism of how increases in leg strength improve old adults' gait speed.
abstract: We examined a behavioral mechanism of how increases in leg strength improve healthy old adults' gait speed. Leg press strength training improved maximal leg press load 40% (p = 0.001) and isometric strength in 5 group of leg muscles 32% (p = 0.001) in a randomly allocated intervention group of healthy old adults (age 74, n = 15) but not in no-exercise control group (age 74, n = 8). Gait speed increased similarly in the training (9.9%) and control (8.6%) groups (time main effect, p = 0.001). However, in the training group only, in line with the concept of biomechanical plasticity of aging gait, hip extensors and ankle plantarflexors became the only significant predictors of self-selected and maximal gait speed. The study provides the first behavioral evidence regarding a mechanism of how increases in leg strength improve healthy old adults' gait speed.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Human Sciences, Waseda University, Tokorozawa, Japan.
authors.forename: Azusa
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Uematsu
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Human Sciences, Waseda University, Tokorozawa, Japan.
authors.forename: Kazushi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tsuchiya
authors.affiliation: Advanced Research Center for Human Sciences, Waseda University, Tokorozawa, Japan.
authors.forename: Norio
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kadono
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Meguro-ku, Japan.
authors.forename: Hirofumi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kobayashi
authors.affiliation: School of Human Sciences, Waseda University, Tokorozawa, Japan.
authors.forename: Takamasa
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kaetsu
authors.affiliation: University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands; Department of Sport, Exercise and Rehabilitation, Northumbria University, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Tibor
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hortobágyi
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Human Sciences, Waseda University, Tokorozawa, Japan.
authors.forename: Shuji
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Suzuki
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D005684:Gait; D006801:Humans; D007866:Leg; D008297:Male; D053580:Muscle Strength; D055070:Resistance Training; D016138:Walking