AUTHOR=Bueno Guilherme Augusto Santos , Gervásio Flávia Martins , Ribeiro Darlan Martins , Martins Anabela Correia , Lemos Thiago Vilela , de Menezes Ruth Losada 

TITLE=Fear of Falling Contributing to Cautious Gait Pattern in Women Exposed to a Fictional Disturbing Factor: A Non-randomized Clinical Trial

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Neurology

VOLUME=10

YEAR=2019

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/neurology/articles/10.3389/fneur.2019.00283

DOI=10.3389/fneur.2019.00283

ISSN=1664-2295

ABSTRACT=<p><bold>Objective:</bold> This study aimed to investigate the gait pattern of elderly women with and without fall-history, with high and low fear of falling, when exposed to a disturbing factor.</p><p><bold>Materials and Methods:</bold> Forty-nine elderly women without cognitive impairment agreed to participate. Participants were divided into four groups, considering the history of falls and fear of falling. Three-dimensional gait analysis was performed to assess gait kinematics before and after exposure to the fictional disturbing factor (psychological and non-motor agent).</p><p><bold>Results:</bold> After being exposed to the perturbation, all showed shorter step length, stride length and slower walking speed. Those without fall-history and with high fear of falling showed greater changes and lower Gait Profile Score.</p><p><bold>Conclusion:</bold> The gait changes shown in the presence of a fear-of-falling causing agent led to a cautious gait pattern in an attempt to increase protection. However, those changes increased fall-risk, boosted by fear of falling.</p><p><bold>Clinical Trial Registration:</bold><ext-link ext-link-type="uri" xlink:href="http://www.residentialclinics.gov.br" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">www.residentialclinics.gov.br</ext-link>, identifier: RBR-35xhj5.</p>