Relationship between Toe-Clearance, Self-Reported Falls and Stumble in Community-Dwelling Elderly People

Abstract

[Purpose] The purpose of this study was to clarify the relationship between toe-clearance and falls in co mmunity-dwelling elderly people. [Subjects] Subjects were 30 healthy community-dwelling elderly. [Methods] We asked the subjects if they had stumbled and fallen in the past one year. We also conducted kinematic analysis in step-over movement. We measured toe-clearance using an obstacle which was 2 cm in height, 80 cm in width and 15 cm in breadth, place at the halfway point of a 9 m walking. [Results] The Mann-Whitney U test showed that toe-clearance was not correlated with history of a stumble or fall. [Conclusion] These results suggest that falls are indirectly related to other factors, not decrease of toe-clearance.