Gait asymmetry and variability in older adults during long-distance walking: Implications for gait instability

Physical exercise, such as walking, is imperative to older adults. However, long-distance walking may increase walking instability which exposes them to some fall risks. To evaluate the influence of long-distance walking on gait asymmetry and variability of older adults. Sixteen physically active older adults were instructed to walk on a treadmill for a total of 60 min. Gait experiments were conducted over-ground at the baseline (before treadmill-walk), after first 30 min (30-min) and second 30 min (60-min) of the walk. In addition to spatiotemporal parameters, median absolute deviation of the joint angular velocity was measured to evaluate gait asymmetry and gait variability. There were significant differences in the overall asymmetry index among the three time instances (Partial η2 = 0.77, p