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Updated: May 5, 2026
Clinical Assessment of Spatiotemporal Gait Parameters in Patients and Older Adults
Published on: November 7, 2014
[Measuring gait velocity in the elderly with a gait analysis system and a 10-meter walk test. A comparison]
G Wewerka1, G Wewerka, B Iglseder
1Universitätsklinik für Geriatrie, Salzburger Landeskliniken - Christian Doppler Klinik und Paracelsus Medizinische Privatuniversität, Ignaz-Harrer-Str. 79, 5020, Salzburg, Österreich, ge.wewerka@salk.at.
Background:
Gait disorders are common in the elderly, compromising quality of life and increasing the risk for falls. Mobility and fall risk assessment usually includes measurement of gait velocity. Computerized gait analyses are able to measure additional gait parameters.
Materials And Methods:
This study addressed the question whether elderly patients (n=66) change their self-selected gait speed when walking on a computerized platform compared to a 10-m walk test. A second aim was to compare gait velocity, gait parameters, and clinical measurements (TUG, POMA) in subgroups of patients with a history of a fall (n=27) vs. without a history of a fall (n=39).
Results:
Our results demonstrate that gait velocity was significantly reduced in the subgroup of fallers, but not in the group of nonfallers. Moreover, other gait parameters and the clinical tests differed significantly between fallers and nonfallers.
Discussion:
A possible explanation could be the visual requirements of the test environment, which may influence the walking speed in terms of a dual-task paradigm in those participants with mobility problems.
