@article{ref1,
title="Comfortable and maximum walking speed of adults aged 20-79 years: reference values and determinants",
journal="Age and ageing",
year="1997",
author="Bohannon, R. W.",
volume="26",
number="1",
pages="15-19",
abstract="OBJECTIVES: to establish reference values for both comfortable and maximum gait speed and to describe the reliability of the gait speed measures and the correlation of selected variables with them. DESIGN: descriptive and cross-sectional. METHODS: subjects were 230 healthy volunteers. Gait was timed over a 7.62 m expanse of floor. Actual and height normalized speed were determined. Lower extremity muscle strength was measured with a hand-held dynamometer. RESULTS: mean comfortable gait speed ranged from 127.2 cm/s for women in their seventies to 146.2 cm/s for men in their forties. Mean maximum gait speed ranged from 174.9 cm/s for women in their seventies to 253.3 cm/s for men in their twenties. Both gait speed measures were reliable (coefficients > or = 0.903) and correlated significantly with age (r > or = -0.210), height (r > or = 0.220) and the strengths of four measured lower extremity muscle actions (r = 0.190-0.500). The muscle action strengths most strongly correlated with gait speed were nondominant hip abduction (comfortable speed) and knee extension (maximum speed). CONCLUSIONS: these normative values should give clinicians a reference against which patient performance can be compared in a variety of settings. Gait speed can be expected to be reduced in individuals of greater age and of lesser height and lower extremity muscle strength.<p /><p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0002-0729",
doi="",
url="http://dx.doi.org/"
}