Postural adjustments associated with the voluntary movement and horizontal perturbation in the Elderly

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1. Preventing fall of physically disabled people and old is important for physical therapy. We let subjects wear the flared heel (FH) which the sole of shoes was wide, and We confirmed the effects that widely FH gave to backward slantingly angle by adding disturbance to backward slant to them. The slant angle of hemiplegia patients and old decreased significantly than it of young when it was compared the slant angle with the same FH between subjects. However there was a tendency that it of hemiplegia patients and old with widely FH (ex, 1.0cm, 1.5cm and 2.0cm) approached it of young. Significantly difference was not confirmed between subjects if the FH wore 1.0cm over.2. The purpose of this study was to clarify how movement is controlled at the first step by the swing leg of gait initiation on a low friction floor. Nine healthy subjects (age: 22.6+ 3.0 years) participated in the study. Duration of gait initiation on both high and low friction floors, movement of the first step were measured using a force plate and a motion analysis system. The length of the first step and the length of time from heel contact to toe contact by the swing leg on the low friction floor were significantly smaller than those on the high friction floor, and maximum vertical distance between the lateral malleolus of the swing leg and the floor on the low friction floor was significantly higher than that on the high friction floor. These findings suggest that, the movement of the first leg of gait initiation on a low friction floor is controlled as follows so that, the step length is reduced, the foot is raised higher, and at heel strike, the foot lands flat on its sole.