Relative Effort While Walking Is Higher Among Women Who Are Obese, and Older Women

Details

• Personal Author:
  Anderson DE ; Koushyar H ; Madigan ML ; Nussbaum MA
• Description:
  Purpose: Individuals who are obese, and older individuals, exhibit gait alterations that may result, in part, from walking with greater effort relative to their maximum strength capacity. The goal of this study was to investigate obesity-related and age-related differences in relative effort during gait. Methods: Four groups of women completed the study, including 10 younger healthy-weight, 10 younger obese, 10 older healthy-weight, and 9 older obese women. The protocol included strength measurements at the hip, knee, and ankle in both flexion and extension, and gait trials under self-selected and constrained (1.5 m·s-1 gait speed and 0.65-m step length) conditions. Relative effort was calculated as the ratio of joint torques during gait, and strength from a subject-specific model that predicted strength as a function of joint angle. Results: Relative effort during self-selected gait was higher among women who were obese in knee extension (P = 0.028) and ankle plantar flexion (P = 0.013). Although both joint torques and strength were higher among women who were obese, these increases in relative effort were attributed to greater obesity-related increases in joint torques than strength. Relative effort was also higher among older women in hip flexion (P < 0.001) and knee extension (P = 0.008), and attributed to age-related strength loss. Results were generally similar between self-selected and constrained gait, indicating the greater relative effort among women who were obese and older women was not attributed to differences in gait spatiotemporal characteristics. Conclusions: Women who were obese, as well as older women, walk with greater relative effort. These results may help explain the compromised walking ability among these individuals. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Age Factors Aging Biomechanical Phenomena Body Weight Occupational Health Safety Women
• Keywords:
  Age Factors Author Keywords: Gait Biomechanics Body Weight Lower Extremities Obesity Strength Weight Factors
• ISSN:
  0195-9131
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Massachusetts ; OSHA Region 1 ; OSHA Region 3 ; Virginia
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  105-111
• Volume:
  52
• Issue:
  1
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20059366
• Citation:
  Med Sci Sports Exerc 2020 Jan; 52(1):105-111
• Contact Point Address:
  Michael L. Madigan, Ph.D., Grado Department of Industrial and System Engineering, Blacksburg, VA 24061
• Email:
  mlm@tamu.edu
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2020
• Performing Organization:
  Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  20110901
• Source Full Name:
  Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise
• End Date:
  20150831
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:40eaa1cacddbec41de5dc982759a52b4b222ade164046f6e73be583f9ae92ea5c10776b629bbd6ac1ee1c9391c4741903d82ad970a5aa105a121db25f9772344
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/223625/cdc_223625_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 300.93 KB ]