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Spatiotemporal gait analysis of older persons in clinical practice and research

Which parameters are relevant?

Spatiotemporale Ganganalyse älterer Menschen in der klinischen Praxis und Forschung

Welche Parameter sind relevant?

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Abstract

For older persons walking is a basic activity of daily life which characterizes the person’s functional mobility. Therefore, the improvement of walking performance is a major clinical outcome during geriatric rehabilitation. Furthermore, walking performance is relevant for several geriatric research issues. Quantitative gait analysis can describe walking performance in detail. Besides gait speed, various qualitative parameters related to different aspects of walking performance, such as symmetry, regularity, coordination, dynamic balance and foot movement during the swing phase, can serve as outcome parameters in geriatric research and in clinical practice. Clinicians and researchers have to decide which parameters are appropriate to be used as relevant outcome parameters in the investigated person or group of persons.

Zusammenfassung

Gehen ist eine Basisaktivität älterer Menschen, die auch den funktionalen Status der Mobilität beschreibt. Daher ist die Verbesserung der Gehfähigkeit ein wichtiges Ziel während der geriatrischen Rehabilitation. Darüber hinaus ist die Gehfähigkeit ein wichtiger Endpunkt für verschiedene geriatrische Forschungsprojekte. Durch quantitative Analysen kann das Gehen sehr detailliert beschrieben werden. Neben der Gehgeschwindigkeit können verschiedene qualitative Aspekte durch quantitative Parameter beschrieben und als Endpunkt für klinische Fragen oder Forschungsfragen genutzt werden. Diese Aspekte sind z. B. die Symmetrie, die Gleichmäßigkeit, die Koordination, die dynamische Balance und die Fußbewegung während der Schwungphase. In der klinischen Praxis und in der Forschung muss entschieden werden, welcher Parameter bei den untersuchten Patienten oder der untersuchten Studienpopulation für die jeweilige Fragestellung der richtige ist.

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Ellen Freiberger and Stephanie Bridenbaugh critically read the manuscript.

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  1. Department of Clinical Gerontology and Rehabilitation, Robert-Bosch-Hospital, Auerbachstr. 110, 70376, Stuttgart, Germany

    Ulrich Lindemann

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Correspondence to Ulrich Lindemann.

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U. Lindemann declares that he has no competing interests.

The underlying study showing the independence of parameters was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki, and the protocol was approved by the ethics committee of the University of Tübingen (578/2011/BO2).

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Lindemann, U. Spatiotemporal gait analysis of older persons in clinical practice and research. Z Gerontol Geriat 53, 171–178 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00391-019-01520-8

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