Improvements in obstacle clearance parameters and reaction time over a series of obstacles revealed after five repeated testing sessions in older adults

Deborah A. Jehu, Yves Lajoie, Nicole Paquet

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

1 Scopus citations

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate obstacle clearance and reaction time parameters when crossing a series of six obstacles in older adults. A second aim was to examine the repeated exposure of this testing protocol once per week for 5 weeks. In total, 10 older adults (five females; age: 67.0 ± 6.9 years) walked onto and over six obstacles of varying heights (range: 100-200 mm) while completing no reaction time, simple reaction time, and choice reaction time tasks once per week for 5 weeks. The highest obstacles elicited the lowest toe clearance, and the first three obstacles revealed smaller heel clearance compared with the last three obstacles. Dual tasking negatively impacted obstacle clearance parameters when information processing demands were high. Longer and less consistent time to completion was observed in Session 1 compared with Sessions 2-5. Finally, improvements in simple reaction time were displayed after Session 2, but choice reaction time gradually improved and did not reach a plateau after repeated testing.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)245-262
Number of pages18
JournalMotor Control
Volume22
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - Jul 2018
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Attention demand
  • Dual tasking
  • Elderly
  • Obstacle negotiation
  • Practice

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Physical Therapy, Sports Therapy and Rehabilitation
  • Clinical Neurology
  • Physiology (medical)

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