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Updated: Jul 30, 2025
Substantiating Appropriate Motion Capture Techniques for the Assessment of Nordic Walking Gait and Posture in Older Adults
Published on: May 12, 2016
Sex differences in age-related differences in joint motion during gait in community-dwelling middle-age and older
Sota Araki1, Ryoji Kiyama2, Yuki Nakai3
1Department of Rehabilitation, Faculty of Health Sciences, Tohoku Fukushi University, Miyagi, Japan; Department of Physical Therapy, School of Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Kagoshima University, Kagoshima, Japan.
Background:
Walking is the most important mode of human locomotion; however, the ability to walk often decreases with age. Age-related differences in lower-limb kinematics during gait may differ depending on sex. However, the question of the compounded effects of age and sex on gait kinematics remains unsolved.
Research Question:
The present study aimed to clarify the interaction between age and sex in differences in gait kinematics of community-dwelling middle-age and older individuals.
Methods:
This study included 836 community-dwelling middle-age and older adults (61.8 % female). Joint motion during comfortable gait was measured using magnetic and inertial measurement units. Hip, knee, and ankle joint angles were calculated in the sagittal plane. Participants were divided into four groups according to age: 50-59, 60-69, 70-79, and 80-89 years. The interaction of sex and age on spatiotemporal gait parameters and the peak value of joint angles was analyzed using two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Tukey's post hoc test.
Results:
Gait speed (F = 43.92, P < 0.001), step length (F = 73.00, P < 0.001), hip extension (F = 12.89, P = 0.002), knee flexion (F = 39.99, P < 0.001), and ankle plantar flexion (F = 27.43, P < 0.001) significantly decreased with age. Significant differences according to sex were observed in all parameters except gait speed. Significant age and sex interaction effects were observed for knee flexion (F = 4.97, P = 0.002) and ankle dorsiflexion (F = 4.04, P = 0.007).
Significance:
A significant interaction effect of age and sex was observed for peak angle of knee flexion and ankle dorsiflexion during gait. In particular, the knee flexion angle among females during gait began to decrease from 60 years of age, and the decreasing trend was faster and more prominent than that among males.
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