Abstract
We studied the characteristics of backward walking of elderly people and the relationship between walking and balance ability for the purpose of revealing the characteristics of backward moving of elderly people. The subjects were 11 healthy elderly people participating in a fall prevention class. The measurement items were 10 m forward walking, 10 m backward walking, the Functional Reach Test and the one-leg standing test. To examine the difference between forward and backward walking, the t-test was used and the relationship between backward walking and balance ability was analyzed with Pearson's correlation coefficient. The results show that in backward walking of elderly people step width (p<0.001), walking speed (p<0.001) and walking ratio (p<0.001) were reduced compared with forward walking, and that their relationships with balance ability were low. From these results, it became clear that in backward walking of elderly people, walking speed and ratio are reduced by adjustment of step width, suggesting it is possible to evaluate the backward balance shift.
