A kinematic comparison between young and elderly women during treadmill walking with partial body weight support.
The following study compared the sagittal plane angular kinematics of the lower extremity joints between young and elderly healthy females at changing levels of body weight support (BWS) during treadmill walking. The purpose of this study was to improve our understanding of the BWS effect on lower...
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| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Thesis Electronic eBook |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2006
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | Static URL is not available. In OregonPDF, search for the Author using the All tab. Static URL is not available. In OregonPDF, search for the Author using the All tab |
| Summary: | The following study compared the sagittal plane angular kinematics of the lower extremity joints between young and elderly healthy females at changing levels of body weight support (BWS) during treadmill walking. The purpose of this study was to improve our understanding of the BWS effect on lower extremity kinematics and our understanding of the variability of these parameters due to the aging process. It was hypothesized that increased levels of BWS could affect the range of motion of the hip, knee, and ankle angles. It was also hypothesized that this effect would be greater for older females than for younger. Twenty females (ten women aged 20-35 years, ten women aged 70+ years) participated in the study. Subjects were asked to treadmill walk at their self-selected pace at levels of 0%, l0%, 20%, and 30% BWS. Videographed data were captured using a 60Hz camera. Results of this study indicate BWS has a significant effect on lower extremity kinematics. More differences were seen at the hip than at the knee and ankle. Significantly more variance was seen in the elderly, and it was concluded that this might be due to the aging neuromuscular system. Age also had a significant effect on gait speed, slower in the elderly. No significant interaction between BWS level and age was found. |
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| Item Description: | [Advisor:] Stergio, N. |
| Physical Description: | 97 pp |
