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) ×2 (group: JG, CG) ×2 (time: pre, post) MANOVAs with repeated measures were applied to ascertain differences in gait parameters. Results: A significant Time×Motor Complexity×Group interaction was found for AVG and CV. For AVG, JG showed improvements for flat and hurdling conditions in step length (flat: ∆=+2.6%, d=0.4; hurdling: ∆=+3.2%, d=0.4), gait cycle (flat: ∆=-4.3%, d=0.4; hurdling: ∆=-4.0%, d=0.5), speed (flat: ∆=+6.6%, d=0.7; hurdling: ∆=+6.7%, d=0.6) and cadence (flat: ∆=4.3%, d=0.4; hurdling: ∆=3.9%, d=0.5). For CV, JG improved step length for flat (∆=-20.9%, d=0.6) and hurdling (∆=-16.3%, d=0.8) conditions, whereas CG showed a deterioration in the step length for the corridor condition (∆=+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.