The association between fear of falling and gait variability in both leg and trunk movements

The aim of this study was to explore whether FoF was associated with variability in both leg and trunk movements during gait in community-dwelling elderly. Ninety-three elderly people participated in this study. Each participant was categorized into either Fear or No-Fear group on the basis of having FoF. The participants walked 15m at their preferred speed. The wireless motion recording sensor units were attached to L3 spinous process and right posterior surface of heel during gait. Gait velocity, stride time and stride length were calculated. Variability in lower limb movements was represented by coefficient of variation (CV) of stride time. Trunk variability was represented by autocorrelation coefficients (AC) in three directions (vertical: VT, mediolateral: ML and anteroposterior: AP), respectively. Gait parameters were compared between groups, and further analyses were performed using generalized linear regression models after adjustment of age, sex, fall experience, height, weight, and gait velocity. Although gait velocity, mean stride time and stride length did not differ significantly between groups, stride time CV and all ACs were significantly worse in the Fear group after adjustment for variables, even including gait velocity (stride time CV: p=0.003, β=-0.793; AC-VT: p=0.011, β=0.053; AC-ML: p=0.044, β=0.075; AC-AP: p=0.002, β=0.078). Our results suggest that fear of falling is associated with variability in both leg and trunk movements during gait in community-dwelling elderly. Further studies are needed to prove a causal relationship.