Changes in real-world walking speed following 60-day bed-rest

Abstract The aim of this work was to explore whether real-world walking speed (RWS) would change as a consequence of 60-day bed-rest. The main hypothesis was that daily RWS would decrease after the bed-rest, with a subsequent recovery during the first days of re-ambulation. Moreover, an exploratory analysis was done in order to understand whether there is an agreement between the loss in RWS after bed-rest and the loss in the maximum oxygen uptake capacity (VO2max), or the loss in maximal vertical jump power (JUMP) respectively. Twenty-four subjects were randomly assigned to one of three groups: a continuous artificial gravity group, an intermittent artificial gravity group, or a control group. The fitted linear mixed effects model showed a significant decrease (p