The effects of age on medio-lateral stability during normal and narrow base walking

We examined age-related differences in frontal plane stability during performance of narrow base (NB) walking relative to usual gait. A cross-sectional analysis of participants from the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging (BLSA) was performed on data from the BLSA Motion Analysis Laboratory. Participants were 34 adults aged 54–92 without history of falls. We measured step error rates during NB gait and spatial–temporal parameters, frontal plane stability, and gait variability during usual and NB gait. There was a non-significant age-associated linear increase in step error rate (P = 0.12) during NB gait. With increasing age, step width increased (P = 0.002) and step length and stride velocity decreased (P < 0.001), especially during NB gait. Age-associated increases in medio-lateral (M-L) center of mass (COM) peak velocity (P < 0.001) and displacement (P = 0.005) were also greater during NB compared to usual gait. With increasing age there was greater variability in stride velocity (P = 0.001) and step length (P < 0.001) under both conditions. Age-associated differences related to M-L COM stability suggest that the quantification of COM control during NB gait may improve identification of older persons at increased falls risk.