Does previewing of walking route and attentional loading effect walking speed and stepping strategies of community dwelling olde

Abstract Content - Introduction. When required to multitask while walking, older adults (OA) will walk slower and use maladaptive stepping strategies such as cross-steps that may increase the risk of falling. However, most studies to date have been limited to steady-state straight-line walking, which requires limited to no visual planning, which is unrepresentative of common outdoor environments. Therefore, this study aimed to (i) investigate the impact of dual-tasking during walking of complex routes, and (ii) assess if such impact can be reduced when older adults deliberately preview their route to improve planning. Methods. We aim to recruit 45 community-dwelling OA. Preliminary results are reported for 19 (13F & 6M) community-dwelling OA without neurological or musculoskeletal diagnosis (Mean age = 75.7, range = 64–84). Participants walked along different winding paths on an 8-meter-long walkway under three conditions for 6 trials per condition: Single-task (ST), Dual-task (counting backwards) without previewing their route (DT) and Dual-task with deliberate previewing of the walking route (DTP). For each condition, we recorded walking speed, stepping errors (deviations from the pathway), and cross-steps. Results. Participants walked significantly slower during the DT condition (M=58.3 cm/s, SD=15.4) vs. ST condition (M=82.6 cm/s, SD=12.6; p<.001). during the dt condition participants also made more errors (m="1.3/trial," sd="1.4;" p=".029)" and frequent cross-steps compared to ST (no noted; m="0.4" />trial, SD=0.4). However, when allowed to preview their route prior to dual-tasking (DTP condition), participants walked faster (M=69.9 cm/s, SD=18.7; p=.002) and with fewer errors (M=0.1/trial, SD=0.1; p=.006). Conclusions. The imposition of an attentional load during adaptive walking reduces speed and increases the likelihood of potentially risky stepping strategies. Taking the time to deliberately preview the walking route seems to reverse some of these negative changes, and particularly to allow older adults to walk faster with fewer stepping errors.