The impact of Nordic walking training on the gait of the elderly

ABSTRACT

The purpose of the current study was to define the impact of regular practice of Nordic walking on the gait of the elderly. Thereby, we aimed to determine whether the gait characteristics of active elderly persons practicing Nordic walking are more similar to healthy adults than that of the sedentary elderly. Comparison was made based on parameters computed from three inertial sensors during walking at a freely chosen velocity. Results showed differences in gait pattern in terms of the amplitude computed from acceleration and angular velocity at the lumbar region (root mean square), the distribution (Skewness) quantified from the vertical and Euclidean norm of the lumbar acceleration, the complexity (Sample Entropy) of the mediolateral component of lumbar angular velocity and the Euclidean norm of the shank acceleration and angular velocity, the regularity of the lower limbs, the spatiotemporal parameters and the variability (standard deviation) of stance and stride durations. These findings reveal that the pattern of active elderly differs significantly from sedentary elderly of the same age while similarity was observed between the active elderly and healthy adults. These results advance that regular physical activity such as Nordic walking may counteract the deterioration of gait quality that occurs with aging.

KEYWORDS:

• Gait quality
• Elderly
• Nordic walking
• inertial sensors

Acknowledgments

This study was financially supported from the French region Provence Alpes Cote d’Azur under grant [0730- 2012], the FEDER European fund and the ESPHI society. The authors would also like to thank Denis Fabre and the members of the association “Toulon Marche Nordique” who participated to the experiment.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the French region Provence Alpes Cote d’Azur [0730- 2012].