Related Experiment Videos
Effects of assistive devices on cardiorespiratory demands in older adults
1Department of Physical Therapy, College of St Scholastica, Duluth, MN 55811, USA.
Background And Purpose:
The purpose of this study was to quantify and compare cardiorespiratory demands imposed during unassisted ambulation and ambulation with various assistive devices in older adults.
Subjects:
Ten volunteers (3 male, 7 female) who were not dependent on assistive devices for ambulation, with a mean age 60.3 years (SD = 8.4, range = 50-74), participated.
Methods:
Immediately after a 5-minute steady-state session with each of the assistive devices tested (standard walker, wheeled walker, and single-point cane), subjects ambulated for 2 minutes at a self-selected speed with each device and unassisted while selected cardiorespiratory and metabolic variables were monitored.
Results:
Ambulation with the use of a standard walker was shown to require 212% more oxygen per meter than unassisted ambulation and 104% more oxygen per meter than ambulation with a wheeled walker. Ambulation with a standard walker elicited 200% and 98% higher heart rate per meter as compared with unassisted ambulation and ambulation with a wheeled walker, respectively. No difference was detected for physiologic demands between unassisted ambulation and ambulation with a cane.
Conclusion And Discussion:
The decision to prescribe a wheeled walker versus a standard walker may be clinically important with patients who have impaired cardiorespiratory systems.