Abstract
[Purpose] Young and elderly adults performed walking and standing-walking (ST) tasks, and the number of steps taken before achieving normal gait and the characteristics of transitional gait were investigated. [Subjects and Methods] The subjects were 19 elderly females and 10 healthy young females. Step length and gait speed were measured at the maximum gait in both tasks, and in the ST task, the anterior transfer speed of the center of gravity (COG) and motor function were also compared. [Results] In the walking task there were no differences, but in the ST task the elderly subjects took one more step to establish normal gait. The anterior transfer speed of COG and motor function of the elderly subjects in the ST task were significantly lower than those of the young subjects. [Conclusion] A difference was found in the number of steps needed to achieve normal gait in the ST task. We consider decrease in the anterior transfer speed of COG was an influencing factor, and that a possible cause is decrease of motor function due to aging.
