Abstract
The aim of this study was to investigate body sway in 3 axial directions while walking under multitask conditions to assess the effects of task type and aging associated with the risk of falling. Body sway was measured with a single 3-axis acceleration sensor attached to the hip. Ten healthy young and 11 elderly individuals participated the experiment. The task conditions were 1) normal walking, walking with the following additional tasks: 2) a visual task, 3) an auditory task, 4) a calculation task, 5) visual and calculation tasks, and 6) auditory and calculation tasks. Significant differences in left-right direction body sway in condition 5 and forward-backward direction body sway in condition 3 were observed between elderly and young people. These results imply that, compared to young people, postural control in elderly individuals is more visually dependent and route changes based on sound prompts lead to excessive attentional load in elderly individuals.