Effects of Age-related Changes in Step Length and Step Width on the Required Coefficient of Friction during Straight Walking

Publication date: Available online 8 February 2019

Source: Gait & Posture

Author(s): Takeshi Yamaguchi, Kei Masani

Abstract

Background

Slipping is one of the leading causes of falls among older adults. Older adults are considered to walk with a small anteroposterior (AP) component and a large mediolateral (ML) component of the required coefficient of friction (RCOF) owing to a short step length and a wide step width, respectively. However, limited information is available.

Research question: What are the effects of aging on the resultant RCOF (RCOF_res) and its ML (RCOF_ML) and AP (RCOF_AP) components during straight walking?

Methods

We used the kinetic and kinematic data of 188 participants aged 20–77 years from a publicly available database (National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology Gait Database 2015). The participants were divided into the following three groups: young group (n = 56; age range, 20–34 years), middle-aged group (n = 50; age range, 35–64 years), and old group (n = 82; age range, 65–77 years).

Results

The RCOF_res and RCOF_AP were lower in the old group than in the other groups, indicating a lower slip risk in this group. However, the RCOF_ML was higher and the step width was greater in the old group than in the other groups. The higher RCOF_ML and lower RCOF_AP in the old group might be associated with slips in a more lateral direction.

Significance

Our findings suggest that older adults have a high risk of slipping in a more lateral direction. Shoes with high-slip resistance in the lateral direction are recommended to prevent hazardous lateral slips among older adults.

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