足底圧プレートを用いた高齢者のバランス機能と歩行の特徴の抽出

抄録

It is very important for elderly people to maintain good walking ability for good quality of life. This paper focuses on the characteristics of balance function and walking in elderly and extracts the characteristic indices. Seven young to middle-aged subjects and seven elderly subjects were participated in this study. They were all paid volunteers with informed consent. The plantar pressure was measured by a pressure sensor plate at quiet standing posture with open eyes and closed eyes, functional reach test (FRT), forward lean and backward lean (FB), and walking. Maximum lengths between back and forth of center of plantar pressure at FB and at FRT in the elderly were shorter than those in the young to middle-aged. Those results suggested that it is difficult to maintain balance forward and backward in the elderly. The plantar pressure of the elderly while walking did not have two peaks. It suggested that the elderly walking form became a shuffle. The gait pace and the gait speed did not have significant differences between the young to middle-aged and elderly, but the plantar pressure parameters did. As a result, this study showed that the plantar pressure parameters can be used as characteristic indexes of elderly balance function and walking.