Abstract
Objective: Locomotive syndrome (abbreviated as Locomo) is a novel concept proposed by the Japanese Orthopaedic Association in 2007. Its purpose is to raise the awareness of the general public in order to prevent disorders of the locomotive organs, which appear to be increasing as a result of Japan’s low birth-rate/continually aging society. In the conventional test, subjects are required to self-evaluate locomotive organ disorders using “loco-check”, which consists of seven check items. However, given that the positive rate of loco-check is low in the population under 50, this design was considered insufficiently effective for encouraging prophylaxis from an early age. In order to solve this problem, the Locomotive Syndrome Risk Test was newly introduced in 2014. This test is composed of three parts: Stand-up Test, Two-step Test, and Locomo-25 Questionnaire.
We solicited participants for the Locomotive Syndrome Risk Test at the health check-up center of our hospital in order to collect data from relatively younger people and evaluate the feasibility of using the test for checking the status of locomotive organs at health check-up centers.
Methods and Results: A total of 246 people, ranging in age from 20 to 74 years, applied for the test. Although the results showed functional deterioration with age both in the Two-step Test and the Stand-up Test, the deterioration was more prominent in the Stand-up Test.
Conclusion: Based on the fact that no particular problems occurred during our study, these three tests were considered to be useful options for examining the status of locomotive organs at health check-up centers.
