Abilities to turn suddenly while walking: Effects of age, gender, and available response time

Background. Falls may occur when an unexpected turn must be made quickly, in order to avoid colliding with an object in the gait path. Little is known about abilities, particularly about abilities of old adults, to turn suddenly. Methods. Twenty young and 20 old (mean age 73.8) healthy and physically active adults, while walking straight ahead, were cued to make approximately a 90 degrees turn without advance knowledge of where the turn was to be made or whether it would be to the right or left. Subjects were given available response times (ART), the times between the cue to turn, and potential crossing of a specified forward limit line, of 375, 450, 600, and 750 ms. The rate of success (RS) in completing the turns as prescribed was determined. Regression analyses were used to estimate the additional ART that would be needed for other groups to achieve the same RS as did the young male subject group. Results. For all ART, old subjects had a lower rate of success in completing the turns as prescribed than the young. At an ART of 375 ms, mean RS was 36% for the young and 6% for the old. The regression analyses suggested that, for RS from 30 to 95%, old adults needed 112 ms longer than young of corresponding gender to succeed as well. Females needed on the order of 50 ms longer ART than males of corresponding age. Conclusions. There are significant age and gender differences among healthy and physically active adults in the available response times they need when walking for successfully making sudden turns.