DYNAMICS OF GAIT IN ACTIVE ELDERLY MEN

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to identify if, on very active elderly male, the undesirables effects of age in gait dynamic variables where minimized. The gait cycle of 3 healthy and active elderly males (ages: 69.30±1.41 years) and 5 health and active young males (ages: 21.80±0.45 years) was compared in order to verify if the differences (between young and older adults) usually reported in the literature were present. The following kinetics variables were studied: ground reaction force (vertical and anterior-posterior components), joint torques and joint power (ankle, knee and hip joints). The dynamic variables were collected using the inverse dynamics technique. The results show no significant differences between the two groups in ground reaction force, joint torques and joint power. Our results seem to indicate that elderly functional decline is minimized with exercise.