Impact of walking states, self-reported daily walking amount and age on the gait of older adults measured with a smart-phone app: a pilot study

Abstract

Background Smartphones provide a cost-effective avenue for gait assessment among older adults in the community. The purpose of this study is to explore the impact of walking state, self-reported daily walking amount, and age on gait quality, using a smartphone application. Methods One hundred older adult individuals from North China, aged 73.0 ± 7.7 years, voluntarily participated in this study. They performed three walking tests: normal walking, fast walking, and visually impaired walking. Three-dimensional acceleration data for gait were obtained using the smartphone app Pocket Gait. This study used multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) to explore the effects of the walking state, self-reported daily walking amount, and age on the step frequency, root mean square (RMS) acceleration, step time variability, regularity, and symmetry. Results The walking state, self-reported daily walking amount, and age had statistically significant effects on gait quality. Compared with normal walking, the step frequency, RMS acceleration, variability, and regularity were greater in the fast-walking state, and simulated visually impaired walking did not significantly affect gait quality. Relatively older individuals had a significant decline in gait quality compared to (relatively) younger older adult individuals. Compared with older adults who walked less than 1 km a day, older adults who walked more had better gait quality. Conclusions The walking state, self-reported daily walking amount, and age have a significant effect on the gait quality of older adults. Walking with pigmented sunglasses can be used as a training intervention to improve gait performance. Older adult people who walk less than 1 km/day have worse gait quality compared with their counterparts.

The validity and reliability of the OneStep smartphone application under various gait conditions in healthy adults with feasibility in clinical practice

“…It is essential to evaluate gait variables under conditions that older adults are likely to encounter in daily activity. To date, many smartphone applications have been compared to the gold standard motion laboratory to determine basic spatiotemporal variables (e.g., cadence, speed, stride length) of walking [11][12][13][14]. However, no study has compared gait parameters beyond the basic spatiotemporal variables, including stance, step length, single and double support in various gait conditions, leaving questions to the validity and reliability of the product.…”

Gait Assessment Using Smartphone Applications in Older Adults: A Scoping Review

“…In this review, I did not find one particular smartphone set-up that was used by most studies, but a wide variety of combinations. The most used set-up was a smartphone attached to a sacroiliac belt, which was used in 8 of 11 studies screened [ 20 , 21 , 22 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 ]. The other position was in the pant pocket [ 14 , 23 , 25 ] ( Figure 3 ).…”

“…Studies analyzed gait parameters collected with smartphones using descriptive statistics and ANOVA; analysis showed that age had a significant effect on smaller step frequency ( p < 0.001) [ 20 ], worse step regularity and variability [ 29 ]. Gait cadence, which is also reported as step frequency, could be a useful indicator when estimating functional capacity, with a sensitivity of 0.81 (95% CI: 0.77, 0.85) and a specificity of 0.57 (95% CI: 0.55, 0.59) [ 27 ].…”