Effect of Motor Versus Cognitive Secondary Tasks on Performance of Stair Descent in Community-Dwelling Older Adults

Abstract

Falls on stairs are one of the leading causes of accidental death among the elderly. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of dual tasking on stair descent in older adults and also to investigate whether a secondary motor task or secondary cognitive task caused more difficulty in performance. Eighty older adults (mean age = 68 years) were randomly selected from various residential colonies across Gurgaon, India. The performance of stair descent with a secondary task became more difficult than descent without the secondary task. Furthermore, participants demonstrated great difficulty in the performance of stair descent with the cognitive task.

KEYWORDS:

• older adults
• stair descent
• secondary motor task
• secondary cognitive task