[Gait disturbance in aging and equilibrium disorders--body sway research no. 45]

Initiation of gait in relation to aging in normal adults and patients with equilibrium disorders were examined by a large force platform to analyze trace of the center of foot pressure while walking with eyes open. Sixty normal adults and fifty-one patients with equilibrium disorders underwent examinations. Normal adult subjects were divided into three groups by depending on the age; the young age group (20-39 years), the middle age group (40-64 years), and the aged group (over 65 years). The patients consisted of peripheral vestibular disorders and central equilibrium disorders. Analyzed items were step length (mm), step width (mm), cadence (steps/min), walking speed (m/min), step length/body height (step length ratio), step width/step length, and LG/LS. The aged group showed characteristic gait pattern: marked shortness of step length, broadness of step width, slight decrease in cadence, slowness of walking speed and increased body sway during walking. Instable body sway was expressed by step width/step length and LG/LS. No statistically significant difference was obtained between the normal young and the normal middle age groups. The patients with central equilibrium disorders showed shortness of step length in comparison with contemporary normal generations. Both patients with peripheral and central disorders revealed remarkable lower walking speed. In the patients with central disorders the walking was characterized with increase of body sway during their walking.