Effects of a 4-month judo program on gait performance in older adults

BACKGROUND: Falls prevention is a critical goal of training program for older individuals. This study explored the effects of a judo program on gait performance in older adults. METHODS: Pre- and post-intervention (15 weeks, 1-hr session, twice a week) step length (cm), gait cycle time (s), speed (m.s(-1)) and cadence (step.min-1) mean values (AVG) and coefficients of variation (CV) were assessed in a judo (JG: N.=16 novice judoka; age=69.3 +/- 3.9 years) and a control (CG: N.=14 healthy older adults; age=70.1 +/- 4.5 years) group. Two 3 (motor complexity: flat, corridor, hurdling) x2 (group: JG, CG) x2 (time: pre, post) MANOVAs with repeated measures were applied to ascertain differences in gait parameters. RESULTS: A significant TimexMotor ComplexityxGroup interaction was found for AVG and CV. For AVG, JG showed improvements for flat and hurdling conditions in step length (flat: Delta=+2.6%, d=0.4; hurdling: Delta=+3.2%, d=0.4), gait cycle (flat: Delta=-4.3%, d=0.4; hurdling: Delta=-4.0%, d=0.5), speed (flat: Delta=+6.6%, d=0.7; hurdling: Delta=+6.7%, d=0.6) and cadence (flat: Delta=4.3%, d=0.4; hurdling: Delta=3.9%, d=0.5). For CV, JG improved step length for flat (Delta=-20.9%, d=0.6) and hurdling (Delta=-16.3%, d=0.8) conditions, whereas CG showed a deterioration in the step length for the corridor condition (Delta=+22.3%, d=0.7). CONCLUSIONS: The findings demonstrated the effectiveness of an adapted judo program for improving gait performance in older individuals, suggesting a potential protective effect for fall risk.