Gait assessment in the elderly: a gait abnormality rating scale and its relation to falls.

We evaluated the gait of 49 nursing home residents (27 of whom had a history of recent falls), and 22 controls. Measures consisted of stride length and walking speed, as well as a videotape-based analysis of 16 facets of gait. The study demonstrates that stride length, walking speed, and the assessment of videotaped gait correlated well with each other and were significantly impaired in fallers compared to controls. Arm swing amplitude, upper-lower extremity synchrony, and guardedness of gait were most impaired in fallers. Although subjects who fell were more often demented than controls, it is likely that this represents a selection bias in nursing homes. Visual rating of gait features in the nursing home population is a simple and useful alternative to established methods of gait analysis.