Timed limb coordination performance is associated with walking speed in healthy older adults: a cross-sectional exploratory study.

Walking speed reflects quality of life, health status and physical function in older adults but interpreting measures of walking speed is affected by several confounders such as gender, age and height. Additionally, walking speed is influenced by neurologic conditions that impair limb coordination. In absence of defined pathology, it is less clear how varying levels of limb coordination influence walking speed.

Values for timed limb coordination tests in a sample of healthy older adults.

Background: timed limb coordination tests are reliable measures of motor performance but many lack published reference values.

Objective: to determine mean values for timed tests in an older cohort, examining associations with anthropometric characteristics, handedness, gender and age.

Design: cross-sectional.