Age-Related Gait Changes and Hip Flexibility

Gait Clinical Trial

Official title: Age-Related Gait Changes and Hip Flexibility

Status Active, not recruiting

Clinical Trial Summary

Based on their preliminary quantitative gait findings suggesting that limited passive hip extension range is a key functionally limiting impairment affecting gait, the investigators propose a supervised, specific stretching exercise with the aim to improve both peak hip extension and overall gait performance. While one goal is to demonstrate that reduced peak passive hip extension is a key, functionally significant, but reversible, impairment another is to improve our understanding of the relationship between impairment, functional limitation and gait ability.

Clinical Trial Description

1. Test the hypothesis that both passive and dynamic hip extension during comfortable and fast walking speeds are reduced in the elderly groups compared to passive and dynamic peak hip extension in healthy young adults.

2. Test the hypothesis, separately for each elderly group, controlling for co-factors, that there is greater change in step length in the treatment group compared to the control group, after controlling for co-variates. We also expect greater changes in dynamic hip peak extension, a reduction in anterior pelvic tilt, improvement in age-related reductions in peak ankle plantar flexion and ankle power generation, and in dynamic CoM-CoP moment arm during both comfortable and fast walking, and an increase in comfortable walking speed.

3. Test the hypothesis separately for the frail elderly group who cannot independently perform IADL only, controlling for co-factors, that there is a greater change in secondary, non quantitative gait-parameters of the Timed Get Up and Go Test, Activities of Daily Living, Instrumental ADL function, fear of falling and number of falls during 6 months following intervention.

4. Test the hypothesis that the created forward dynamic model can accurately predict in individual subjects, the actual effect of an increase in passive peak hip extension on dynamic peak hip extension, anterior pelvic tilt, peak ankle plantar flexion and step length. ;

Study Design

Allocation: Randomized, Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment, Masking: Single Blind (Outcomes Assessor)

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Flexibility
• Gait

• NCT number: NCT00924261
• Study type: Interventional
• Source: University of Virginia
• Status: Active, not recruiting
• Phase: N/A
• Start date: February 2007
• Completion date: December 2009