Correlation Between Age, Physical Characteristics, Gait Speed, Balance Ability, and Spatiotemporal Gait Parameters

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

Purpose: Walking is an essential activity of daily life and serves as a key indicator reflecting an individual's physical function and health status. This study analyzed the correlation between age, physical characteristics, gait speed, balance ability, and spatiotemporal gait parameters in healthy adults. In addition, the influence of each variable on gait ability was assessed.
Methods: One hundred and thirty-two participants were included in this study. All participants were assessed for their physical characteristics, balance ability, and spatiotemporal gait parameters. Pearson correlation analysis was conducted to examine the relationships among the variables. Stepwise multiple regression analysis was used to determine the predictive variables for each gait parameter.
Results: As a result of this study, gait speed, and age showed an explanatory power of 0.794 for the stride length (p<0.05). The body weight showed an explanatory power of 0.086 for step width (p<0.05). In addition, the gait speed and body fat mass showed an explanatory power of 0.454 for the stance phase, while age showed an explanatory power of 0.240 for cadence (p<0.05).
Conclusion: This study identified the factors that influence the spatiotemporal gait parameters. The gait speed, age, and body fat mass were significant predictors of the step length and stance phase. These findings may be useful for evaluating the gait ability when applying a program to improve the gait ability.