Abstract
The purpose of this study was to identify the key joint kinematics characteristics during walking that related to Locomotive syndrome (LS) in order to develop some kind of device which can assess the risk of LS from gait on a daily basis. For this purpose, joint kinematics data during walking were obtained from 54 healthy community-dwelling elderly subjects (10 belong to LS). From these data, we calculated time-normalized lower limb joint angles on three planes during one gait cycle. For each time point, we also calculated averages and standard deviations of joint angles within the 5 trials. Principal component analysis (PCA) was conducted using input matrix made from the time–normalized lower limb joint angle kinematics (3 Planes × 3 Joints × 101 poins × 2 parameters). To determine Principal Component Vector (PCV) related to LS, we conducted t-tests on the Principal Component Scores of each PCV related to LS between LS group and non-LS group. To understand joint kinematics related to LS, we reconstructed them from each PCV related to LS. Among these PCVs, PCV 6 affect walking speed from hip and anlke joint angles point of view, and PCV 12 affect walking speed from cadence point of view. These PCVs revealed that LS group walks smaller walking speed than non-LS group. Further, PCV 9 related to ROM during walking on sagittal plane: LS group tended to showe smaller ROM than non-LS group. However, this PCV did not relate to spatiotemporal variables such as walking speed or step length. These findings suggest the possibility to develop some kind of sensor systems to assess LS using these
characteristics .
