GAIT VELOCITY AND STEP LENGTH MAY DISCRIMINATE ACTIVE FROM SEDENTARY ELDERLY WOMEN

Abstract

Gait is an important functional activity that elderly individuals used to stay active and be ableto perform their daily living tasks. The purpose of this study was to determine what gait parameterscould discriminate a group of community-dwelling elderly women regularly enrolledin a physical exercise program compared to a paired sedentary group. Participated 145women (65 to 83 years) separated into two groups based on the guidelines of the AmericanCollege of Sports Medicine (2007): sedentary (n = 52) and active (n = 93). Eight gait variableswere recorded using the GAITRite® system (velocity normalized by length of lower limbs, stancetime, swing time, double support time, step time, step length, base width and cadence).Factorial analysis followed by discriminant analysis was performed to determine which variablescould best discriminate the sedentary group from the active group. Factorial analysisresulted in 4 factors which explained 98.7% of the data variability. Factor 3 (composed of steplength and velocity) explained 11.8% of the data variability and was the only factor to discriminatethe groups. When the original variables from Factor 3 were analyzed, gait velocity wasthe most discriminant variable, with a much higher discriminant coeffi cient (-0.999) than steplength (-0.022). Gait velocity and step length could be used as a screening tool to discriminatebetween active and sedentary elderly women.