Do aging suits adequately simulate objective age-related decline in gait? A kinematic comparison of induced aging in young and middle-aged adults.
Background and Objectives: Aging suits are widely used as arguably didactic tool to foster understanding for age-related challenges in healthcare training by mimicking physical impairments associated with aging. However, effects on functional levels are ambiguous and necessitating validation of thei...
| Publicado en: | Educational Gerontology Vol. 52; no. 1; pp. 26 - 41 |
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| Autores principales: | , , , , |
| Formato: | pictorial research tables/charts Journal Article |
| Publicado: |
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Jan2026
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| Acceso en línea: | Ver este registro en EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ccm&AN=190648353&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: ccm uiTerm: 190648353 longDbName: CINAHL Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: dissinfo: jinfo: jid: 03601277 EGR jtl: Educational Gerontology issn: 03601277 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: Jan2026 vid: 52 iid: 1 pid: 377 pub: Taylor & Francis Ltd place: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania artinfo: ui: 190648353 183430319 190648353 190648353 10.1080/03601277.2025.2468470 190648353 ppf: 26 ppct: 15 formats: tig: atl: Do aging suits adequately simulate objective age-related decline in gait? A kinematic comparison of induced aging in young and middle-aged adults. aug: au: Gerhardy, Thomas H. Schmidt, Laura I. Wahl, Hans-Werner Mombaur, Katja Sloot, Lizeth H. affil: Institute of Computer Engineering, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany sug: subj: Gait Analysis In Adulthood Gait Analysis In Middle Age Aging Simulations Clothing Cognition Evaluation Task Performance and Analysis Human Adult Middle Age Male Female Funding Source Comparative Studies Hip Spatial Behavior Walking Speed Evaluation Step Evaluation Two-Way Analysis of Variance Age Factors Descriptive Statistics Body Mass Index Physical Activity Grip Strength Evaluation T-Tests Post Hoc Analysis Data Analysis Software Parametric Statistics Reference Values Ankle Knee Range of Motion Germany Motion Capture Adult: 19-44 years Middle Aged: 45-64 years Male Female ab: Background and Objectives: Aging suits are widely used as arguably didactic tool to foster understanding for age-related challenges in healthcare training by mimicking physical impairments associated with aging. However, effects on functional levels are ambiguous and necessitating validation of their potential to simulate age-related walking impairments. We evaluated effects of wearing an aging suit on kinematic gait variables, in younger and middle-aged adults in different walking conditions. Available reference data were used to compare aging-suit induced effects to standard and dual-task walking in older adults. Research Design and Methods: Whole-body kinematics (sagittal ankle-, knee-, hip-angles, arm-swing, trunk-bend) and spatiotemporal parameters (walking speed, stride length, step width) were measured in 14 young (20–34 years) and 15 middle-aged adults (40–63 years). SPM analysis and mixed ANOVA were conducted to evaluate the effects of the suit, age-group and their interaction. Results: Overall, wearing the aging suit changed gait patterns, but kinematic parameters were hardly affected in both groups. During standard walking, arm-swing decreased by 17%, walking speed by 9%, and step width increased by 15% across both groups. Compared to reference data, changes in arm-swing corresponded to an instant aging effect of 45–55 years in young and 15–25 years in middle-aged adults. Discussion and Implications: The aging suit changed gait patterns considerably making both groups walk more cautiously compared to reference values of older adults. However, performance deficits seen in individuals 80+ years were clearly not attained. Caution is advised when using aging suits as an educational tool to simulate age-related walking impairments. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: pictorial research tables/charts Journal Article ougenre: Article language: English refInfo: holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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