Effect of walking speed on inter-joint coordination differs between young and elderly adults

Investigating inter-joint coordination at different walking speeds in young and elderly adults could provide insights to age-related changes in neuromuscular control of gait. We examined effects of walking speed and age on the pattern and variability of inter-joint coordination. Gait analyses of 10 young and 10 elderly adults were performed with different self-selected speeds, including a preferred, faster, and slower speed. Continuous relative phase (CRP), derived from phase planes of two adjacent joints, was used to assess the inter-joint coordination. CRP patterns were examined with cross-correlation measures and root-mean-square (RMS) differences when comparing ensemble mean curves of the faster or slower speed to preferred speed walking. Variability of coordination for each participant was assessed with the average value of all standard deviations calculated for each data point over a gait cycle from all CRP curves, namely the deviation phase (DP). For hip-knee CRP pattern, RMS differences were significantly greater between the slower and preferred walking speeds than between the faster and preferred walking speeds in young adults, but this was not found in elderly adults. Significant group differences in RMS differences and cross-correlation measures were detected in hip-knee CRP patterns between the slower and preferred walking speeds. No significant walking speed or age effects were detected for the knee-ankle CRP. Significant walking speed effects were also detected in hip-knee DP values. However, no significant group differences were detected for all three speeds. These findings suggested that young and elder adults compromise changes of walking speed with different neuromuscular control strategies.