The impact of weight classification on safety: timing steps to adapt to external constraints.
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of the current study was to evaluate how weight classification influences safety by examining adults' ability to meet a timing constraint: walking to the pace of an audio metronome.


METHODS
With a cross-sectional design, walking parameters were collected as 55 adults with normal (n=30) and overweight (n=25) body mass index scores walked to slow, normal, and fast audio metronome paces.


RESULTS
Between group comparisons showed that at the fast pace, those with overweight body mass index (BMI) had longer double limb support and stance times and slower cadences than the normal weight group (all ps<0.05). Examinations of participants' ability to meet the metronome paces revealed that participants who were overweight had higher cadences at the slow and fast paces (all ps<0.05).


CONCLUSIONS
Findings suggest that those with overweight BMI alter their gait to maintain biomechanical stability. Understanding how excess weight influences gait adaptation can inform interventions to improve safety for individuals with obesity.
Boston University, Department of Occupational Therapy, Boston, MA.
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Gill
D000328:Adult; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D015992:Body Mass Index; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D005684:Gait / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D050177:Overweight / Q000145:classification; D016138:Walking; D055815:Young Adult