Gait kinematics differ by bout duration and setting.
Mayumi Wagatsuma, Julien A Mihy, Stephen M Cain and 1 others
PMID 38959554WHAT IT FOUND
People walked faster and with longer steps inside the lab than outside, and faster and with longer steps during long out-of-lab bouts than short out-of-lab bouts.
Hip, knee and ankle movement did not differ by setting or bout length.
Key findings
01Walking speed was faster inside the lab than outside, and faster during long out-of-lab bouts than short out-of-lab bouts.
02Stride length was longer inside the lab than during long out-of-lab bouts, and longer during long out-of-lab bouts than short out-of-lab bouts.
03Hip, knee and ankle joint ranges of motion did not differ significantly by setting or bout duration.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs
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What it does not show
The study included 10 young adults, 10 healthy older adults and 10 older adults with knee osteoarthritis, so it is small. The out-of-lab condition was a researcher-supervised campus walk lasting about 10 minutes, not unsupervised daily life. The authors limited analysis to straight-line and level strides, so turning and stairs were not included in the gait variables. Short bouts averaged 27.0 seconds and long bouts averaged 193.6 seconds, and the authors note daily life would likely include more bouts under 30 seconds. One older adult and two older adults with knee OA had only long bouts, so short-bout results may not represent those participants. The older adult groups were described as relatively high functioning, which may limit how much setting and bout length affected them.
Declared interests
The authors report no conflicts of interest. The paper is tagged as supported by NIH extramural research funding.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read the faster lab speed and longer lab stride length as proof that in-lab testing always overestimates daily life, or as proof that joint movement is unchanged in real life. The out-of-lab walk was supervised, short, and had little bout-duration variability, and the study had only 10 participants in each group.