Name: JANINE CARVALHO VALENTINO CAMARGOS
Publication date: 19/05/2020
Advisor:
Name |
Role |
|---|---|
| NATALIA MADALENA RINALDI | Advisor * |
Examining board:
| Name |
Role |
|---|---|
| DANILO SALES BOCALINI | Internal Examiner * |
| LUCAS RODRIGUES NASCIMENTO | External Examiner * |
| NATALIA MADALENA RINALDI | Advisor * |
Summary: The task of reaching and grasping an object is present in many activities of daily living, and is often accompanied by walking, which also represents an important functional skill. Different studies have analyzed and described the pattern of gait and grip movement separately due to different aspects that influence how movement is controlled. However, the understanding of the control mechanisms and the possible changes that occur in these combined motor skills are not fully understood. Still, it is not clear what are the changes that occur in these movements due to the aging process and the history of falls. The aim of this study was to investigate the motor performance of gait and grip movement in elderly fallers and non-fallers due to the increased difficulty of the locomotor and manual task. Twenty-six elderly people participated in this study, divided into two groups, fallers (n = 13) and non-fallers (n = 13). Participants were asked to perform two walking conditions at their preferred velocity: 1) Walking with overcoming the obstacle combined with reaching and grasping the object; 2) Walking combined with overcoming the obstacle without reaching and grasping the object. The experimental task was performed with different levels of difficulty of the manual task (with and without wooden obstacles around the object) and of the locomotor task (obstacle at different distances). The system used to analyze the reach and grip movements, and the time and space parameters of the gait were composed of two different types of sensors: Kinect v2, Leap Motion controller. The level of significance adopted in all analyzes will be p ≤ 0.05. The older adults with a history of falls had a lower motor performance than the elderly without a history of falls in gait with overcoming an obstacle combined with the grasping movement, for example, reduction in the speed of the center of mass, increase in the support base, shorter length step, shorter horizontal toe-obstacle distance. In addition, the older adults with a history of falls had a longer time of movement for reaching movement compared to the elderly without a history of falls. Thus, the combined task developed in the present study identified changes in motor control strategies in elderly fallers. These results show that older adults with a history of falls have difficulties in performing sequenced tasks, which can impair performance in daily life activities. Therefore, the analysis of the movement of combined motor tasks (walking and prehension) helped to understand the motor control strategies used by elderly people with a history.
Key-words: reaching; prehension; gait; older adults; falls; adaptive locomotion; dual task.
