Evolution of joint power across the lifespan during walking.
Bernard X W Liew, Rachel Senden, David Rugamer and 5 others
PMID 40500742WHAT IT FOUND
At 1.2 m/s, ankle push-off power peaked in the third decade at 2.46 W/kg and was lower in the first and eighth decades.
Early-stance hip and knee power varied with age but showed little change across the modelled speeds.
Key findings
01At 1.2 m/s, A2 peak power was 2.28 W/kg in the 1st decade, peaked at 2.46 W/kg in the 3rd decade, and declined towards 2.32 W/kg in the 8th decade.
02H1 peaked in the 1st decade regardless of walking speed and reached its lowest modelled value of 0.41 W/kg in the 7th decade at 1.2 m/s.
03H3 rose from 0.62 W/kg in the 1st decade to 0.86 W/kg in the 5th decade at 1.2 m/s and then stabilised with older age.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs
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What it does not show
Participants younger than 10 years and older than 80 years were not well represented, so the modelled patterns at those ages are less certain. The included studies were cross-sectional, so they cannot show how the same person's joint power changes as they age. The analysis did not include all publicly available datasets, and some data formats may have limited which studies could be pooled. Datasets differed in treadmill versus overground walking, footwear, camera systems, and processing, and these differences were handled statistically rather than eliminated.
Declared interests
The funding statement names the Medical Research Council as funder.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that older adults compensate for declining ankle push-off power by increasing hip flexor power. The paper found no strict temporal correspondence between the decline in A2 power and the increase in H3 power.