Plantar sensation associates with gait instability in older adults.

Background: Advanced age brings a loss of plantar sensation, represented, for example, as higher sensation thresholds in standardized testing. This is thought to contribute to an increased risk of falls among older adults - an intuitive premise that has yet to be fully investigated, especially in the context of walking balance. The purpose of this study was to quantify the association between plantar sensation and the instability elicited by a suite of walking balance perturbations that differ in direction and context in a cohort of n = 28 older adults (73.

Older adults exhibit lesser smoothness despite increased caution than younger adults when navigating turns during walking.

Straight line walking currently dominates research into mechanisms associated with walking-related instability; however, the dynamics of everyday walking behavior are far more complex. The figure-8 walk test (F8W) is a clinically-feasible activity that focuses on turning mobility and provides a convenient and relevant task for understanding age-related differences in walking beyond our present knowledge of steady-state behavior. Our purpose was to investigate the effects of age (n = 30 older versus n = 31 younger adults) on path characteristics and the "smoothness" of turning mobility - herein measured via normalized center of mass jerk - during the F8W.

Limb Underloading in Walking Transmits Less Dynamic Knee Joint Contact Forces after Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction.

Introduction: Individuals with anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACLR) often walk with a less dynamic vertical ground reaction force (vGRF), exemplified by a reduced first peak vGRF and elevated midstance vGRF compared to uninjured controls. However, the mechanism by which altered limb loading affects actual tibial plateau contact forces during walking remains unclear.

Methods: Our purpose was to use musculoskeletal simulation to evaluate the effects of first peak vertical ground reaction force (vGRF) biofeedback on bilateral tibiofemoral contact forces relevant to the development of post-traumatic osteoarthritis (OA) in 20 individuals with ACLR.

The Effect of Shoe Insole Stiffness Modifications on Walking Performance in Older Adults: A Feasibility Study.

Shoes or insoles embedded with carbon fiber materials to increase longitudinal stiffness have been shown to enhance running and walking performance in elite runners, and younger adults, respectively. It is unclear, however, if such stiffness modifications can translate to enhanced mobility in older adults who typically walk with greater metabolic cost of transport compared to younger adults. Here, we sought to test whether adding footwear stiffness via carbon fiber insoles could improve walking outcomes (eg, distance traveled and metabolic cost of transport) in older adults during the 6-minute walk test.

Conceptual modeling of structural malalignments and ankle joint contact forces during walking.

Background: Structural malalignments, such as talar malalignments and hindfoot varus, are hypothesized to contribute to early ankle joint degeneration by altering joint contact force (JCF). These malalignments, common in individuals with chronic ankle instability (CAI), can modify the articular geometry of the ankle joint, potentially leading to abnormal joint loading patterns. This study leverages musculoskeletal modeling and simulation to conceptualize the effects of increasing severity of these malalignments on ankle JCF during walking.