MOBILITY

The institute granted five labs at UF, including Hass’ lab, the Mind in Motion grant which has helped support a plethora of research involving human movement. Wade’s data collection and analysis stems from the countless data produced over the years thanks in part to the grant.

Research participants of various ages were measured for different health factors such as blood flow, electrical potentials and brain activity and were studied using motion capture and other scans as they conducted 16 unique mobility tasks. Wade focused on analyzing and creating code for the motion capture of participants' increasing and decreasing walking speed transitions.

Here, Wade found that plenty of research had been done on athletes, runners and younger people and how they adjust to changing speeds while running on a treadmill. But little had been conducted using walking and on older populations. Targeting this demographic would help develop knowledge of the parts of the body, including the ankles and hips, that are used for these transitions in speed and how health issues can be addressed when these parts weaken with age.

For example, an older adult who experiences a fall may feel apprehensive about leaving the house and entering a crowd where they may require the mobile adaptability that they no longer have or is limited,

“Being able to independently move yourself around the world goes a long way in having a good quality of life,” Wade said. Wade worked with previous data by creating a method to track the center of mass velocity, or how fast the center of one’s body is moving, and analyzing changes in walking speeds. She was also able to conduct her own research by using motion capture to track participants walking on treadmills and by signaling them to slow down and speed up at different times. These instructions simulated braking and propulsion in one’s gait, or manner of walking.

“Pushing yourself forward and then slowing yourself down happens all the time,” she said. “Whenever you need to speed up at a crosswalk or slow down because someone pushed their shopping cart in front of you, you’re reacting to your environment.”

She would find through her research that younger adults use their entire lower leg, including the ankles, knees and hips, to drive deceleration and acceleration while older adults relied more on their hips. Older adults also have greater dorsiflexion (the lifting of the foot) and lesser knee flexion (bending of the knee).

The next step, though, is to determine where this difference stems from whether it be muscle activation or gravitational forces. However, for now, Wade feels confident that the research has helped make headway into recognizing the physiological differences older people undergo when walking in daily life and how their health issues can be addressed by professionals.