The Analysis of Foot-Eye Coordination Strategies Among Middle-Aged and Elderly Adults: An Example of Foot Positioning Tasks

Falls are the most important issue among elderly population. It is needed to develop early interventions for middle-aged and elderly people to reduce the falling risk. Therefore, this study aims to help prevent trips among middle-aged and elderly people by analyzing their foot-eye coordination strategies while performing foot positioning tasks under different conditions. 10 middle-aged and elderly males above 55 years old and 10 young males in the range of 20 to 30 years old were recruited. There were 3 levels of obstacle height (0 cm, 5 cm, 10 cm), whereas 2 levels (1step, 2steps) were set for the distance between the obstacle and the target. Each participant walked from the starting position and stepped over the obstacle while both feet onto specified targets positioning. The positioning error was defined as the performance measure of primary task. Besides, two different colors were displayed from toe-off to mid-swing and from mid-swing to heel-strike of the leading foot respectively. The participant had to recall the colors been seen as the performance measure of secondary task. Principal component analysis (PCA) was conducted with the gait data collected. 16 PCs accounted in total of 81.3% of variance were extracted. Cluster analysis was then used to determine four different strategies based on the PC scores. It was found that the foot-eye coordination strategies had significant effects on the performance of primary task (p < .001), as well as on secondary task (p < .001). Furthermore, the results showed that the strategies were related to age and environmental condition.