Citation

Jin L, Hahn ME. Sci. Rep. 2019; 9(1): 5568.

Affiliation

Bowerman Sports Science Clinic, Department of Human Physiology, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR, USA. mhahn@uoregon.edu.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1038/s41598-019-41750-9

PMID

30944360

Abstract

Progression of age can influence gait characteristics. Previous research has investigated lower extremity joint mechanics between young and elderly people in locomotion, however little is known about whether differences exist between young and middle age people. Ten young healthy subjects (22.8 ± 5.3 years) and ten middle age healthy subjects (50.7 ± 6.0 years) engaged in treadmill walking (from 0.8 to 2.0 m/s) and running (from 1.8 to 3.8 m/s). The middle age group had higher ankle plantar flexor moment angular impulse (p = 0.002), total support moment impulse (p = 0.016), and hip stance positive work (p = 0.029) across walking speeds. Additionally, the middle age group had higher knee flexion angle at ground contact in walking (p = 0.005) and running (p = 0.037). These findings indicate that moderate age affects changes in ankle and hip kinetic characteristics in walking, and knee kinematic patterns in both walking and running.

Language: en