Turn Characteristics During Gait Differ With and Without a Cognitive Demand Among College Athletes

Area of Science:

• Biomechanics
• Sports Medicine
• Neuroscience

Background:

• Sports involve complex movements like turning, crucial for athletes.
• Cognitive load effects on gait are known, but turning biomechanics under dual-task conditions in athletes remain understudied.
• Understanding these effects can aid in evaluating concussion impacts on athletic and daily turning gait.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the impact of a dual-task cognitive load on the biomechanics of turning while walking in college athletes.
• To quantify changes in turning velocity, duration, and variability.

Main Methods:

• Cross-sectional study conducted in a university laboratory setting.
• Fifty-three college athletes performed walking trials with a 180° turn under single-task and dual-task conditions.
• Dual-tasking involved concurrent cognitive challenges such as backward number/word recitation or subtraction.

Main Results:

• Dual-task turning resulted in significantly slower velocity (155.99 cm/s vs 183.52 cm/s) and longer turn duration (2.63 s vs 2.33 s) compared to single-task turning (P < .001).
• The number of steps remained similar between conditions, but turning time variability increased significantly under dual-tasking (SD of turn duration = 0.39 s vs 0.31 s; P = .004).

Conclusions:

• College athletes demonstrate altered turning gait biomechanics under cognitive dual-task conditions, characterized by reduced velocity and increased variability.
• These changes suggest a strategic adaptation to divided attention, prioritizing cognitive task performance.
• The findings provide normative data on turning gait parameters, valuable for sports medicine professionals conducting concussion evaluations.