In a new study, researchers found that walking too slowly may foreshadow future problems that could prevent people from being fully mobile.
The research was conducted by a team from the University of Pittsburgh.
Being able to walk outside for several blocks at a leisurely pace plays an important role in living a vibrant, healthy life.
Walking short distances allows you to get the physical activity you need, live independently, go shopping, access health care, and engage in social life.
Being able to walk at even a slow speed is essential to all these benefits.
Until now, there has been no ideal way for healthcare providers to measure walking ability, since it involves more than just walking speed.
It also is about how people deal with their environment (such as uneven pavement) and demands on their attention (such as traffic, other pedestrians, and street crossings).
In the new study, the researchers examined whether performance on complex walking tasks involving both physical and mental challenges predicted a higher risk for an inability to walk one-quarter mile (roughly four blocks).
They analyzed data from the Health Aging and Body Composition (Health ABC) study, which enrolled adults in Pittsburgh and Memphis from 1997 to 1998.
The participants were 70 to 79 years old when they entered the study, and they had no difficulty walking a quarter mile or climbing 10 steps without resting.
In the study, participants walked on several different paths and were given several different challenges to measure their walking speed and their ability to cope with mental and physical tasks at the same time.
The researchers then followed up with participants every six months to see if they had any difficulty walking one-quarter mile due to a health or physical problem.
The team found that by the end of the eight-year follow-up, more than half of the participants had developed mobility disability. This means they were unable to walk one-quarter mile.
Almost 40% had developed chronic mobility disability that lasted at least two years.
These people were more likely to be female, have diabetes, be obese, have knee pain, and experience breathing difficulty. They also had more symptoms of depression.
The team says that slow walking speed was linked to greater risk for developing mobility disability over the next eight years.
Measuring simple walking speed in the healthcare provider’s office may be enough for doctors to learn one’s risk for future mobility problems.
The lead author of the study is Andrea L. Rosso Ph.D., MPH from the University of Pittsburgh.
The study is published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.
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