Influence of a Dual-Task on Toe Clearance of the Young and Elderly While Stepping Over an Obstacle

• Published in: Journal of Physical Therapy Science Vol. 22; no. 1; pp. 75 - 79
• Main Authors: Soma, Masayuki, Masuda, Tsukasa, Shimamura, Ryouta, Abiko, Teppei, Uematu, Hisashi, Kawama, Kennosuke
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English; Japanese
• Published: The Society of Physical Therapy Science 2010
• Subjects: Community-dwelling elderly people; Dual task; Toe clearance
• ISSN: 0915-5287; 2187-5626
• DOI: 10.1589/jpts.22.75

[Purpose] The purpose of this study was to evaluate the influence of a dual-task condition on toe clearance of young and elderly subjects while stepping over an obstacle. [Subjects] The subjects were 30 young women and 30 community-dwelling elderly women. [Methods] The subjects were asked to perform two types of tasks. One was a dual-task consisting of a motor task with a concurrent cognitive task. The other was a solitary motor task. The motor task was stepping over an obstacle during comfortable gait. The cognitive task was a 7-series task. We measured toe clearance in performance of both the single and dual tasks. [Results] Although a two-way ANOVA showed that toe clearance was not influenced by the dual-task, heel obstacle distance decreased. [Conclusion] These results clarified that during the dual-task the movement of stepping over the obstacle was different from stepping over the obstacle during comfortable gait.