Die Rolle der Ganganalyse in therapeutischen Trainingsprogrammen von Betagten

Summary Examining gaitcharacteristics in older adults en-hances our understanding ofmovement control in this popula-tion and helps to better targetpreventive interventions. Walkingis a highly automated, regularmotor behavior that is mostlycontrolled by subcortical locomo-tor brain regions. With increasingage, walking requires higherlevels of attention and thus morecortical involvement in motorcontrol. This can affect gait regu-larity by increasing stride-to-stride variability that is charac-teristically high among fallers. Agrowing number of clinical gaitanalysis systems is now availableto determine gait variability andthus the falling risk in olderadults. Interventions targetinghigh gait variability in olderadults need to consider basicprinciples of motor learning. Pre-viously common and automaticgait patterns have to be relearnedand again brought up to a highlyautomated level of motor control.Regular walking exercise, andparticularly T’ai Chi with its em-phasis on sequenced, slow, andhighly controlled movements,might be helpful in this relearn-ing process. Further research isneeded to explore other interven-tions that could favorably affectstride-to-stride variability of old-er adults.n