Abstract
The objectives of this study were to investigate the relationship between the total duration of the swing phase and the time for reaching the minimum toe-floor clearance, which indicates the minimum distance between the big toe and the floor during the swing phase, in young and elderly adults, and to clarify the effect of aging on the minimum toe-floor clearance. Subjects were healthy women. The young group included 30 subjects of twenties, and the elderly group consisted of 10 subjects each of fifties, sixties and seventies. We measured basic data on walking, the minimum toe-floor clearance, and duration of the swing phase. The results demonstrated that the speed, step length and duration of the swing phase were significantly decreased in the elderly group in comparison with the young group. On the contrary, the minimum toe-floor clearance in all subjects was 17.3-18.2 mm, showing no difference between the two groups. Further, the duration of the swing phase and the time from toe off to the minimum toe-floor clearance were within the range of 0.37-0.39 sec and 0.13-0.15 sec, respectively, in both groups. These results indicated that aging did not have any effect on the minimum toe-floor clearance and that the minimum toe-floor clearance was kept in the elderly. It has been shown that the walking ability is decreased in elderly people due to aging, but in the present study aging showed no effect on the minimum toe-floor clearance. This suggests that the possible decrease in the minimum toe-floor clearance might be compensated by some mechanisms appropriate for individual functions in elderly people.
