Gait Disorders in the Elderly

Abstract

DISTURBANCES of gait are common in the elderly and can be disabling. In one population-based study, 15 percent of the subjects over 60 years of age had some abnormality of gait.¹ The prevalence of gait disturbances may be considerably higher among very old persons, those in the ninth decade and beyond. In a study of the functional status of a cohort of 79-year-olds in Göteborg, Sweden, one in four was found to use mechanical aids for walking.² None of the subjects could comfortably walk at 1.4 m per second, a pace considered by the Swedish government to be the norm . . .