TY - JOUR
T1 - Forward and backward locomotion in individuals with dizziness
AU - Davalos-Bichara, Marcela
AU - Zuniga, Maria Geraldine
AU - Agrawal, Yuri
AU - Carey, John P.
AU - Schubert, Michael C.
N1 - Funding Information:
Michael C. Schubert was funded in part by NASA through HRP grant NNX10AO19G. NASA did not have an active role in this study.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2014 Elsevier B.V.
PY - 2014
Y1 - 2014
N2 - The vestibular system plays an important role in locomotion. Individuals with vestibular pathology present with gait abnormalities, which may increase their fall frequency. Backward walking (BW) has been suggested as a predictor of falls in other patient populations; however it has not been studied in individuals with dizziness. Our aims were: (1) to investigate the differences in forward walking (FW) and BW both between and within 3 groups: Healthy controls, individuals with dizziness and vestibular pathology, and individuals with dizziness without vestibular pathology, (2) describe differences in FW and BW between individuals that have fallen and those that have not. We studied 28 healthy controls (mean 53.8. ±. 17 years), 21 individuals with pathophysiology of the vestibular system (mean 68.5. ±. 13 years), and 18 individuals without a vestibular cause for their dizziness (mean 67.4. ±. 17 years). Subjects performed 2 FW and 2 BW trials over the GAITRite walkway. Data on history of falls in the preceding year were collected. We found BW was different to FW within each group. When comparing between groups and correcting for age and gender, only BW velocity (beta=-11.390, p=0.019), cadence (beta. =-8.471, p=0.021), step time (beta=0.067, p=0.007) and stride time (beta=0.137, p=0.005) were significantly affected by having dizziness, with no differences in FW characteristics. There were no differences between FW and BW between fallers and non-fallers. BW appears to be a better biomarker than FW for identifying individuals with symptoms of dizziness; though it does not appear to characterize those who fall.
AB - The vestibular system plays an important role in locomotion. Individuals with vestibular pathology present with gait abnormalities, which may increase their fall frequency. Backward walking (BW) has been suggested as a predictor of falls in other patient populations; however it has not been studied in individuals with dizziness. Our aims were: (1) to investigate the differences in forward walking (FW) and BW both between and within 3 groups: Healthy controls, individuals with dizziness and vestibular pathology, and individuals with dizziness without vestibular pathology, (2) describe differences in FW and BW between individuals that have fallen and those that have not. We studied 28 healthy controls (mean 53.8. ±. 17 years), 21 individuals with pathophysiology of the vestibular system (mean 68.5. ±. 13 years), and 18 individuals without a vestibular cause for their dizziness (mean 67.4. ±. 17 years). Subjects performed 2 FW and 2 BW trials over the GAITRite walkway. Data on history of falls in the preceding year were collected. We found BW was different to FW within each group. When comparing between groups and correcting for age and gender, only BW velocity (beta=-11.390, p=0.019), cadence (beta. =-8.471, p=0.021), step time (beta=0.067, p=0.007) and stride time (beta=0.137, p=0.005) were significantly affected by having dizziness, with no differences in FW characteristics. There were no differences between FW and BW between fallers and non-fallers. BW appears to be a better biomarker than FW for identifying individuals with symptoms of dizziness; though it does not appear to characterize those who fall.
KW - Backward walking
KW - Fall risk
KW - GAITRite
KW - Locomotion
KW - Vestibular dysfunction
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84921973336&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84921973336&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.gaitpost.2014.06.008
DO - 10.1016/j.gaitpost.2014.06.008
M3 - Article
C2 - 25042815
AN - SCOPUS:84921973336
VL - 40
SP - 499
EP - 503
JO - Gait and Posture
JF - Gait and Posture
SN - 0966-6362
IS - 4
ER -