Age-associated changes of walking parameters in Japanese adult women

The purpose of this paper is to clarify the age-associated changes in walking movements. A two-dimensional movement analysis was conducted on a sample of 177 healthy women aged 19-82 years, with performance descriptors, kinematics, and kinetics as the parameters. An analysis of co-variance, with the gait velocity as co-variate and the categorized age group as a fixed factor, was adopted to examine the differences in each parameter among eight age groups. We conclude that age-associated changes in walking movement occur due to the essential effect of aging in walking, rather than due to differences in the physique or decrease of the gait velocity.