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Measurement of the Walking Distance of the First 3 Steps at the Start of Walking Can be an Alternative Physical
Saori Umezawa1, Shinjiro Kobayashi1, Takehito Otsubo1
1Department of Gastroenterological and General Surgery, St. Marianna University School of Medicine, Kawasaki, Japan.
Background:
To establish an alternative evaluation method for gait speed measurement, one criterion in the diagnosis of sarcopenia, we examined whether 6-m walking speed correlates with the walking distance of the first three steps taken at the start of walking.
Methods:
This prospective study comprised 34 patients ≥ 20 years old before scheduled surgery who were hospitalized in the Department of Gastroenterology and General Surgery at St. Marianna University Hospital between December 2020 and June 2021. The primary analysis was the correlation between 6-m walking speed and walking distance of the first three steps taken at the start of walking. Factors influencing stride size were examined in a secondary analysis. Factors analyzed were sex, age at measurement, height, leg length, grip strength, walking speed, time required per step, skeletal muscle index, and psoas muscle index.
Results:
The correlation coefficient between 6-m walking speed and walking distance of the three steps taken at the start of walking was significant at 0.75 (95% confidence interval: 0.5480-0.8667, p < 0.0001), with a median walking speed of 1.30 m/s for the large stride length group and 1.09 m/s for the small stride length group (p = 0.0006).
Conclusions:
A longer 6-m walking time was associated with a significantly shorter walking distance of the first three steps taken at the start of walking, indicating that 6-m walking speed correlated with the walking distance of the three steps taken at the start of walking. Walking speed was the only significant factor associated with a smaller stride length.
