JRPMS Vol 5, No 2, June 2021, p.59-64
doi: 10.22540/JRPMS-05-059
PDF
Review Article
Effects of aging on biomechanical gait parameters in the healthy elderly and the risk of falling
Pavlos Morfis1, Maria Gkaraveli2
- Department of Medicine, School of Health Sciences, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece
- School of Physical Education and Sport Science, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece
Keywords: Falls, Gait disorders, Kinematics, Kinetics, Motion analysis
Abstract
The biomechanics of walking seems to be affected in the elderly compared to young adults. These adjustments are likely to be associated with an increase in the risk of falling. This review aims to investigate the effect of age on walking ability specifically focusing on studies that have assessed spatiotemporal, kinematics and kinetics variables using three-dimensional (3D) analysis. A systematic review of the research literature was applied until January 2019 across Pubmed electronic database. A targeted search strategy traced full papers that fulfilled the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Eleven of 214 articles met the predetermined inclusion criteria and were included in the review. Differences between older and young adults were found in the most parameters which were evaluated. Changes in the lower-limb walking kinematics in elderly during walking may compromise the quality of gait. However, there is a bibliographic gap, as there are no articles that assess the risk of falling taking into account joint kinematic and kinetic parameters.
