Six Minutes Walking in Polio Survivors: Effects on Fatigue and Walking Adaptability

To investigate whether 6-min walking is fatiguing for polio survivors, and how fatigue influences their normal and adaptive walking.

Cross-sectional study.

Polio survivors (n = 23) with ≥ 1 fall and/or fear of falling reported in the previous year and healthy individuals (n = 11).

Participants performed 1 normal-walk test and 2 walking-adaptability tests (target stepping and narrow-beam walking) on an instrumented treadmill at fixed self-selected speed, each test lasting 6 min. Leg-muscle fatigue (leg-muscle activation, measured with surface electromyography), cardiorespiratory fatigue (heart rate, rate of perceived exertion), gait and walking-adaptability performance were assessed. The study compared: (i) the first and last minute per test, (ii) normal and adaptive walking, and (iii) groups.

Leg-muscle activation did not change during normal walking (p > 0.546), but declined over time during adaptive walking, especially in polio survivors (p < 0.030). Cardiorespiratory fatigue increased during all tests (p < 0.001), especially in polio survivors (p < 0.01), and was higher during adaptive than normal walking (p < 0.007). Target-stepping performance declined in both groups (p = 0.007), while narrow-beam walking improved in healthy individuals (p < 0.001) and declined in polio survivors (p < 0.001).

Cardiorespiratory fatigue might further degrade walking adaptability, especially among polio survivors during narrow-beam walking. This might increase the risk of falls among polio survivors.