Examination of Reliability and Validity of Walking Speed, Cadence, Stride Length -Comparison of Measurement with Stopwatch and Three-Dimension Motion Analyzer

To examine the validity and reliability of values measured with a stopwatch (SW) and a three-dimensional motion analyzer (3D), walking speed and gait cycle variables were measured for ten healthy young individuals. Participants were given two assignments as subjects of the experiment. Their first role was to walk on a 16 m track from end to end at a comfortable speed, and as data measurers their second role was to use the stopwatch method to measure the time and number of steps taken for other subjects to pass through the measurement section of the track. The measurement section was set up in the middle of the track, with 4 m distance for the 3D and 10 m distance for the SW method. While subjects were walking from one end of the track to the other, their gait was measured by both the 3D and the SW methods. Each subject performed the gait trial 10 times. Results: Strong correlations were obtained among the measured values, both with the SW method and the 3D method, and high reliability was confirmed. Variables of time and space such as walking speed, cadence, and stride length can be measured by a stopwatch within the range of ± 0.1 s. The validity of the stopwatch method is strong: it showed tight correlation with the 3D method, but gave slightly shorter temporal and spatial parameters than the 3D method. The conclusion is that the stopwatch method is sufficient for the measurement of walking speed in the clinical field.