Approach to assessing the walking motion of elderly males based on kinetic parameters of young males

The objectives of this study were to explore a method of evaluating the walking motion of elderly males using mainly kinetic parameters and to determine how to maintain their level of walking motion to equal that of the young. We employed the coefficient of variation (CV) (=standard deviation[SD]/MEAN * 100), z-score, and weighted z-score (WZ) (=z-score/CV) and examined the relationship between the WZ of each parameter and age by regression analysis. Finally, we used the regression line to estimate "gait age" and determined the critical factors of gait decay in elderly individuals.