Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
Volume 88, Issue 6 , Pages 768-773 , June 2007

Comparison of Spatiotemporal and Energy Cost of the Use of 3 Different Walkers and Unassisted Walking in Older Adults

  • Elizabeth J. Protas, PhD, PT

      Affiliations

    • Department of Physical Therapy, University of Texas Medical Branch Galveston, TX
    • Corresponding Author InformationReprint requests to Elizabeth J. Protas, PhD, PT, Dept of Physical Therapy, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX 77555-1028
  • ,
  • Mary Lynn Raines

      Affiliations

    • Innovative Health Solutions, League City, TX.
  • ,
  • Sandrine Tissier, PT

      Affiliations

    • Department of Physical Therapy, University of Texas Medical Branch Galveston, TX

References 

  1. Tibbetts GM. Patients who fall: how to predict and prevent injuries. Geriatrics. 1996;51:24–31
  2. Greenhouse AH. Falls among the elderly. In:  Albert ML,  Knoefel JE editor. Clinical neurology of aging. New York: Oxford Univ Pr; 1994;p. 611–626
  3. Rowe JW, Kahn RL. Successful aging. Gerontologist. 1997;37:433–440
  4. Lachman ME, Howland J, Tennstedt S, Jute A, Assman S, Peterson EW. Fear of falling and activity restriction: the survey of activities and fear of falling in the elderly (SAFE). J Gerontol. 1998;53:43–50
  5. Bateni H, Zecevic A, McIlroy WE, Maki BE. Resolving conflicts in task demands during balance recovery: does holding an object inhibit compensatory grasping?. Exp Brain Res. 2004;157:49–58
  6. Bateni H, Heung E, Zettel JL, McIIroy WE, Maki BE. Can use of walking frames or canes impede lateral compensatory stepping movements?. Gait Posture. 2004;20:74–83
  7. Norton R, Campbell AJ, Lee-Joe T, Robinson E, Butler M. Circumstances of falls resulting in hip fractures among older people. J Am Geriatr Soc. 1997;45:1108–1112
  8. Christenson M. Enhancing independence in the home setting. Phys Occup Ther Geriatr. 1990;2:49–65
  9. Mann WC, Hurren D, Tonita M, Charvat B. An analysis of problems with walkers encountered by elderly persons. Phys Occup Ther Geriatr. 1995;13:1–23
  10. Wolfe RR, Jordan D, Wolfe ML. The WalkAbout: a new solution for preventing falls in the elderly and disabled. Arch Phys Med Rehabil. 2004;85:2067–2069
  11. McDonough AL, Batavia M, Chen FC, Kwon S, Ziai J. The validity and reliability of the GAITRite system’s measurements: a preliminary evaluation. Arch Phys Med Rehabil. 2001;82:419–425
  12. Cutlip RG, Mancinelli C, Huber F, DiPasquale J. Evaluation for an instrumented walkway for measurement of the kinematic parameters of gait. Gait Posture. 2000;12:134–138
  13. Cunha-Filho IT, Henson H, Qureshy H, Williams A, Holmes SA, Protas EJ. Differential responses to measures of gait performance among healthy and neurologically impaired individuals. Arch Phys Med Rehabil. 2003;84:1774–1779
  14. Grice C, Murphy A. In: Reliability of the Aerosport KB1-C ambulatory gas analysis system. 1998;p. 132;Proceedings of the Australian Conference of Science and Medicine in Sport; Oct 13-16; Adelaide (Aust).
  15. Youdas JW, Kotajarvi BJ, Padgett DJ, Kaufman KR. Partial weight-bearing gait using conventional assistive devices. Arch Phys Med Rehabil. 2005;86:394–398
  16. Cubo E, Moore CG, Leurgans S, Goetz CG. Wheeled and standard walkers in Parkinson’s disease patients with freezing. Parkinsonism Relat Disord. 2003;10:9–14
  17. Chen HC, Ashton-Miller JA, Alexander NB, Schultz AB. Effects of age and available response time on ability to step over an obstacle. J Gerontol. 1994;49:M227–M233
  18. Holder CG, Haskvitz EM, Weltman A. The effects of assistive devices on the oxygen cost, cardiovascular stress, and perception of non-weight-bearing ambulation. J Orthop Sports Phys Ther. 1993;18:537–542
  19. Foley MP, Prax B, Crowell R, Boone T. Effects of assistive devices on cardiorespiratory demands in older adults. Phys Ther. 1996;76:1313–1319
  20. Baruch I, Mossberg K. Heart-rate response of elderly women to nonweight-bearing ambulation with a walker. Phys Ther. 1983;63:1782–1787

 Supported by the Small Business Technology Transfer Research, National Institute on Aging, National Institutes of Health (grant no. 1R41 AG022247-01A1) and the UTMB Claude Pepper Older Americans Independence Center, National Institute on Aging, National Institutes of Health (grant no. NIH P30-AG24832).A commercial party having a direct financial interest in the results of the research supporting this article has conferred or will confer a financial benefit upon the author or 1 or more of the authors. Raines is the inventor of the WalkAbout; she did not participate in the data collection or data analysis.

PII: S0003-9993(07)00194-3

doi: 10.1016/j.apmr.2007.03.001

Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
Volume 88, Issue 6 , Pages 768-773 , June 2007