Changes in gait pattern during multitask using smartphones

With the development of science and technology, smartphones have been deeply involved in people's everyday lives, and many perform various tasks simultaneously on smartphones.

To investigate gait pattern changes on performing multitask simultaneously when using smartphones.

Three tasks were performed by 26 healthy adults. In the first, participants were directed to walk without using smartphones (single-task). In the second, they were required to walk while finding applications (dual-task). Lastly, in addition to performing the second task, they were asked to listen to questions and answer them on their smartphone (triple-task). Spatiotemporal variables of gait and degree of lateral deviation during walking were measured.

The results showed that there was a significant difference between the single-task and dual tasks, as well as between the single task and triple task in all variables (p < 0.05). In particular, gait velocity decreased by 33.49% in the dual task and 41.69% in the triple task compared to the single-task, the degree of deviation increased by 119.18% in the dual task and 122.67% in the triple task in comparison to the single-task.

It was determined that changes in gait, appear when walk while using smartphones in comparison to walking without using smartphones.