Impact of Cognitive Tasks on Gait Parameters in Collegiate Athletes

• Main Author: Burns, Karlee N.
• Language: EN
• Published: California State University, Long Beach 2017
• Subjects: Kinesiology
• Online Access: http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=10262879

<p> The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of cognitive tasks on gait parameters in a collegiate athlete population. Forty-six current collegiate student-athletes from men&rsquo;s football, women&rsquo;s basketball, and women&rsquo;s volleyball participated in the study. Each participant completed five single task trials walking at a self-selected pace on a ten-meter walkway free of obstacles and other distractions and then completed five dual task trials of walking while completing a cognitive task of either counting backwards from 100 by 7s or spelling common five letter words backwards. Paired samples t-tests showed all gait parameters, including step count (<i> t</i>(45) = -13.301, <i>p</i> &lt; .001), gait cycle (<i> t</i>(45) = -14.710, <i>p</i> &lt; .001), cadence (<i> t</i>(45) = 12.132, <i>p</i> &lt; .001), nominal speed (<i> t</i>(45) = 18.229, <i>p</i> &lt; .001), peak medial lateral acceleration (<i>t</i>(45) = 2.948, <i>p</i> = .005), peak anterior acceleration (<i>t</i>(45) = 7.005, <i>p</i> &lt; .001), and postural sway (<i>t</i>(45) = 5.355, <i>p</i> &lt; .000) were statistically different, <i>p</i> &lt; .05, between the single and dual task trials. During the single task trials, participants walked faster, took less steps, and had higher acceleration and postural sway values than they did during the dual task trials. Normative reference values for these gait parameters were also determined for this specific population. </p>