Assessment of gait kinetics in post-menopausal women using tri-axial ankle accelerometers during barefoot walking.
Stefan I Madansingh, Dennis H Murphree, Kenton R Kaufman and 1 others
PMID 30682643WHAT IT FOUND
Ankle accelerometers during barefoot lab walking estimated foot-strike force in 70 post-menopausal women.
Walking speed added little, and was not required.
Key findings
01Ankle acceleration at heel strike was strongly related to peak vertical ground reaction force.
02Adding walking speed lowered mean absolute error to 5.98%, but the simpler model was 6.80% and the improvement was not appreciable.
03Age was not a significant predictor of peak vertical ground reaction force.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs
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What it does not show
The study measured only barefoot walking in a laboratory, so it may not apply to shoes or daily walking. It did not follow participants over time or measure bone density, fractures or falls, so it does not show that using accelerometers changes health outcomes. Many exclusions, including osteoporosis treatment changes, lower-limb fractures, joint replacements, severe arthritis, current smoking and recent impact exercise, limit generalizability. Only 2438 of 2773 footfalls had usable walking velocity data. Prediction error was still present: the simplest model had mean absolute error 6.80% and root mean square error 0.087BW.
Declared interests
No author conflicts were declared. The article is listed as supported by NIH extramural and non-U.S. government research support.
The easy way to misread this
Do not use ankle accelerometer readings to prescribe bone-loading exercise for osteoporosis. The study only showed a laboratory relationship between barefoot walking accelerations and force-plate measures, not that this predicts fractures or improves bone health.