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Methods: Physical activities and sports in nature offer opportunities for leisure, health, and well-being. A randomized clinical trial (RCT) compared the effects of training, dualtask orienteering and single-task hiking in independent older adults (n = 90) allocated into three groups: orienteering group (OG), hiking group (HG) and control group (CG). Timed Up and Go (TUG) tests, including a dual-task (TUG-DT), and cognitive tests were administered. Differences were analyzed by Generalized Estimating Equations (GEE) and the effect size (ES) was calculated. Unpaired and paired tests were used for the evaluation of basic differences and after 24 weeks of intervention., Results: This RCT highlights the interaction effects between groups and time. Only the OG in TUGDT reduced by 6 s, with change of 42% (ES=0.77). Likewise, Dual TUG + cognitive stops (TUG-DT+ CS) and Dual TUG + cognitive stops + cognitive errors (TUG-DT + CS + CE), reduced 7 (ES=0.85) and 8 (ES=0.90) seconds (<0.001). The task cost improved by 75% for OG and 24% for HG (p = 0.001), with an ES of 0.56 for OG. For cognition, there was a 49.2% increase (ES=2.00) for OG and 16.5% for HG in executive functions and visuospatial skills, a 31.4% increase (ES=1.64) for OG and 14.7% for HG in processing speed, and a 39.8% increase (ES=1.62) for OG and 6.5% for HG in memory. All interactions were <0.001., Conclusion: The orienteering demonstrated that has potential benefits in effectively improving gait performance and preventing cognitive decline in older adults. Brazilian Registry of Clinical Trials (ReBEC): RBR-99jmmpf., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare no conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2023. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Real-world walking requires shifting attention from different cognitive demands to adapt gait. This study aims to evaluate the effect of dual tasking on spatiotemporal gait parameters of older adults. Participants were asked to perform a primary complex single-walking task, consisting of a fast-paced linear and a curved gait. Primary task was performed separately and simultaneously with different motor and cognitive secondary tasks. Spatiotemporal gait parameters, walk ratio, and walk stability ratio were measured. Apart from stride length, which stood relatively unchanged, gait speed and cadence were strongly affected by cognitive dual tasking. Cadence seems to be the most impacted by dual tasking during curved gait as it combines challenges of both primary and secondary tasks. Also, during curved phase, walking ratio was significantly lower and stability ratio was greater demonstrating that participants adopted a cautious gait where maintenance of stability took preference over efficiency.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of different vertical positions of an asymmetrical load on the anticipatory postural adjustments phase of gait initiation. Sixty-eight college students (32 males, 36 females; age: 23.65 ± 3.21 years old; weight: 69.98 ± 8.15 kg; height: 1.74 ± 0.08 m) were enrolled in the study. Ground reaction forces and moments were collected using two force platforms. The participants completed three trials under each of the following random conditions: no-load (NL), waist uniformly distributed load (WUD), shoulder uniformly distributed load (SUD), waist stance foot load (WST), shoulder stance foot load (SST), waist swing foot load (WSW), and shoulder swing foot load (SSW). The paired Hotelling's T-square test was used to compare the experimental conditions. The center of pressure (COP) time series were significantly different for the SUD vs. NL, SST vs. NL, WST vs. NL, and WSW vs. NL comparisons. Significant differences in COP time series were observed for all comparisons between waist vs. shoulder conditions. Overall, these differences were greater when the load was positioned at the shoulders. For the center of mass (COM) time series, significant differences were found for the WUD vs. NL and WSW vs. NL conditions. However, no differences were observed with the load positioned at the shoulders. In conclusion, only asymmetrical loading at the waist produced significant differences, and the higher the extra load, the greater the effects on COP behavior. By contrast, only minor changes were observed in COM behavior, suggesting that the changes in COP (the controller) behavior are adjustments to maintain the COM (controlled object) unaltered., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Background: There is a paucity of available biomechanical kinetic data comparing shod and barefoot conditions in children., Research Question: Do children wearing footwear have comparable gait velocity, ground reaction forces (GRF), spatiotemporal parameters, propulsive and braking impulses when compared to children walking barefoot?, Methods: Seventy-five children were divided into four groups: Group 1 females aged 4-9 years old (n = 29). Group 2 females aged 3-5 years old (n = 16). Group 3 males aged 6-9 years old (n = 13). Group 4 males aged 4-8 years old (n = 17). Children walked at a self-selected pace over a walkway of force platforms. Each footwear and barefoot represented a separate condition. The order of conditions was randomized. A repeated-measures ANOVA was performed to investigate the effects of the footwear type on gait parameters in each group. Multiple comparisons with Bonferroni corrections were conducted when appropriate., Results: There were no statistical differences in velocity or in vertical and anteroposterior GRF across conditions for all groups. There was a significant effect of the footwear worn on time to loading response peak (p = 0.008), time to midstance force (p = 0.006), and time to propulsive peak (p < 0.001). For Group 3, there was a significant effect of the footwear worn on time to braking peak (p < 0.001) and time to propulsive peak (p < 0.001). Regarding impulses for Group 1, there was a significant effect of the footwear worn on the loading response impulse (p = 0.016) and terminal stance and pre-swing impulse (p = 0.001). For Group 4, there was a significant effect of the footwear worn on the loading response impulse (p = 0.028)., Significance: There is no influence of the evaluated children's footwear on gait velocity or GRF., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)