EFFECT OF THE TRUNK iNCLlNATiON ON, MECHANICAL ENERGY CHANGE PURING GAIT IN ELDERLY ADULTS

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate effects of the trunk forward lean during gait in elderly people on effectiveness use of mechanical energy (El). The participants were five healthy elderly and ten healthy young people. The participants walked with the trunk leaning forward at their preferred speed. The gait motion was captured with a VlCON system and the ground reaction forces during stance phase were collected with two Kistler force platforms. The El of the elderly subjects was significantly smaller than the young subjects. The results indicated that the elderly subjects did greater mechanical work by the leg joints to walk at a same speed as young subjects. The lower El was related to a remarkable increase in the negative work at the ankle joints.