Examining gait characteristics in older adults who are transitioning to frailty enhances our understanding of movement control in this fall-prone population and helps to better target preventive interventions. This work presents data on temporal and spatial gait parameters of a group of older adults who have been operationally defined as "transitionally frail". Gait speed, cadence, stride length, stance, swing, double-support, and horizontal heel velocity at heel contact were measured in 50 transitionally frail older adults while walking at a self-selected pace. These data suggest that the temporal and spatial gait features of these older adults differ substantially from published results from other older adults.
Copyright 2003 Elsevier B.V.