Using force data to self-pace an instrumented treadmill and measure self-selected walking speed.
Seungmoon Song, Hojung Choi, Steven H Collins
PMID 32493426WHAT IT FOUND
Self-paced treadmill walking speeds closely tracked the standard 10-meter walk in healthy adults, but the three slowest walkers chose slower treadmill speeds.
The treadmill can measure comfortable speed, not replace overground speed values.
Key findings
01Self-paced treadmill walking speeds were highly correlated with the standard 10-meter overground test, with correlation coefficients of R=0.93 and R=0.94, mean speeds of 1.23±0.28 m/s and 1.23±0.27 m/s, and no significant difference from the overground test (p=0.13 in both tests).
02The three slowest subjects walked significantly slower on the self-paced treadmill tests than on the standard test (0.87±0.11 m/s vs 1.11±0.07 m/s, p=6×10−5), while the remaining seven subjects did not (1.38±0.15 m/s vs 1.41±0.13 m/s, p=0.49).
03The self-paced treadmill tests required about a third of the time needed for the common manual speed selection treadmill test, with trial times of 125±1 s and 138±35 s compared with 371±141 s for manual speed selection.
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How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs
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What it does not show
Only ten healthy adults took part in the walking speed tests, and one subject tested the state estimator, so this does not show how clinical populations would respond. The authors state that the self-paced treadmill should be revalidated for substantially different populations or tasks. The three slowest healthy adults walked significantly slower on the self-paced treadmill than on the standard 10-meter test, so absolute treadmill speed may understate overground speed in slow walkers. The controller requires a force-instrumented treadmill, and subjects must not cross over the belts; this limits use in some gait protocols or single-belt setups. Comfort and ease of choosing speed were lower than overground walking, even if similar to manual treadmill selection. Reported trial times are minimums and may underestimate the actual time needed in clinic.
Declared interests
No conflicts of interest or funding declaration is included in the supplied text.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that self-paced treadmill speed equals overground speed for every patient. The three slowest healthy adults chose slower speeds on the self-paced treadmill, and the study did not test clinical populations.