Guidelines for clinical applications of spatio-temporal gait analysis in older adults

Quantifying spatio-temporal gait parameters in stationary and ambulatory geriatric settings may aid the early identification of potential fallers, as well as the documentation of illness-specific gait disorders and intervention-related changes in rehabilitative medicine. Bringing gait analysis out of the laboratory and into a clinical setting is the goal of the European GAITRite network group, initiated in 2003 in Geneva. To enhance reproducibility of gait measures and for better comparability of outcomes in clinical environments, a consensus on data collection was formulated and presented at the 2nd European GAITRite Meeting in Marseilles. The guidelines presented here are intended to facilitate network collaborations and to provide guidance to clinicians who wish to implement spatio-temporal gait analysis in clinical settings.