Abstract
[Purpose] The purpose of this study was to clarify the relationship between fall risk and gait ability under multi-task conditions in community-dwelling elderly individuals. [Subjects] The subjects were 35 community-dwelling elderly individuals living in Ibaraki Prefecture. [Methods] Gait ability was measured during a 10-m walk under multi-task conditions (balance, auditory, reading, subtraction), and it was compared with the gait ability during normal walking. Subjects’ characteristics including fall score were obtained by a self-report questionnaire. [Results] Changes in stride length and the number of steps in the auditory task showed a significant correlation with fall scores. Additionally, changes in stride length were significantly larger in the multi-fall group than in the no-fall group. [Conclusion] Our data suggest that determining gait ability under multi-task conditions might help identify subjects at a high risk of fall, and that tasks more complex than dual tasks are suitable for testing community-dwelling elderly individuals for fall risk.
