J Korean Acad Fam Med.  2008 Jan;29(1):26-33.

The Usefulness of Maximal Step Length to Predict Annual Fall Risk

• Kwon YC
• Kim SJ
• Kim HJ
• Park J
• Choi JY
• Cho BL

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Many clinical measures have been used to assess fall risk in elderly adults. The first objective of this study was to assess the clinical availability of maximal step length (MSL) as a measurement predicting falling probability in future. The second objective of this study was to try to find out how to use MSL more easily in a clinical setting.
METHODS
The study population consisted of 50 community-dwelling people (> or =60 yrs). Demographic data were reviewed by self-recorded questionnaire and MSL, US and TUG had been done when the subjects visited a clinic in March and April 2004. They revisited the clinic after one year and information of fall incidence was obtained and their visual acuity was examined. To examine the association between many performance tests (MSL Unipedal stance, Timed up and go) and their real falling after tests, we analysed data by Mann-Whitney rank Test, pearson correlation and multiple regression.
RESULTS
The average MSL predicted future falling (P-value 0.025), but Unipedal stance, Timed up and go did not. The predicting ability of MSL was preserved using many MSL measures (average MSL corrected by leg length and height, one direction measure among six directions of MSL, and average of left and right three directions of MSL).
CONCLUSION
This study showed that MSL had the ability to predict elderly adults' falling in future. And this study showed that MSL can be used more easily in a clinical setting.

Keyword

maximal step length; unipedal stance; timed up and go; frequent fall; elderly adults

MeSH Terms

Adult
Aged
Humans
Incidence
Leg
Visual Acuity
Surveys and Questionnaires