A technique to record the sedentary to walk movement during free living mobility : a comparison of healthy and stroke populations

Kerr, A; Rafferty, D; Hollands, K; Barber, M; Granat, MH

Abstract

Background


Hesitation between moving from a sedentary posture (lying/sitting) to walking is a characteristic of
mobility impaired individuals, as identified from laboratory studies. Knowing the extent to which this
hesitation occurs during everyday life would benefit rehabilitation research. This study aimed to
quantify this transition hesitation through a novel approach to analysing data from a physical activity
monitor based on a tri-axial accelerometer and compare results from two populations; stroke
patients and age-matched unimpaired controls.


Methods
Stroke patients living at home with early supported discharge (n=34, 68.9YO ± 11.8) and age matched
controls (n=30, 66.8YO ± 10.5) wore a physical activity monitor for 48hrs. The outputs from
the monitor were then used to determine the transitions from sedentary to walking. The time delay
between a sedentary posture ending and the start of walking classified four transition types: 1)
fluent (<=2s), 2) hesitant (>2s<=10s), 3) separated (>10s) and 4) a change from sedentary with no
registered walking to a return to sedentary.


Results
Control participants initiated walking after a sedentary posture on 92% of occasions. Most
commonly (43%) this was a fluent transition. In contrast stroke patients walked after changing from
a sedentary posture on 68% of occasions with only 9% of transitions classed as fluent, (p<0.05).


Discussion/Conclusion
A new data analysis technique reports the frequency of walking following a change in sedentary
position in stroke patients and healthy controls and characterises this transition according to the
time delay before walking. This technique creates opportunities to explore everyday mobility in
greater depth.

Citation

Kerr, A., Rafferty, D., Hollands, K., Barber, M., & Granat, M. (2017). A technique to record the sedentary to walk movement during free living mobility : a comparison of healthy and stroke populations. Gait & Posture, 52, 233-236. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gaitpost.2016.11.046

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Nov 29, 2016
• Online Publication Date: Nov 30, 2016
• Publication Date: Feb 1, 2017
• Deposit Date: Dec 7, 2016
• Publicly Available Date: Nov 30, 2017
• Journal: Gait & Posture
• Print ISSN: 0966-6362
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Volume: 52
• Pages: 233-236
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gaitpost.2016.11.046
• Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.gaitpost.2016.11.046
• Related Public URLs: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/gait-and-posture