Background Physical decline due to aging has been associated with the risk of falls. Minimum toe clearance (MTC) is a gait parameter that might play a role in the mechanism of tripping and falling. However, it is unclear if there are any sex-related effects regarding MTC as people age. The present study investigated if there are sex-related differences in MTC in older active adults. Methods Twenty-three females and 23 males (F: 65.5 ± 4.8 yrs; M: 61.9 ± 5.2 yrs) walked on a treadmill at a preferred walking speed, while kinematic data were obtained at a sampling frequency of 100 Hz and up-sampled to 120 and 240Hz. MTC was calculated from the kinematics data and evaluated concerning its magnitude (i.e., MTC and MTC/leg length), the time between left/right MTC (i.e., T-MTC), amount of variability (i.e., CV and CVm), and temporal structure of variability i.e., the complexity of the time series (i.e., MTC α, T-MTC α). Results No sex effects were found for MTC/leg length, for the amount of variability (i.e., CV and CVm), and for the complexity of the time series (MTC α, T-MTC α). However, females exhibited significantly lower MTC and T-MTC after adjusting for walking speed, mass, and age as covariates. Conclusions The reduced MTC in females suggests a potential sex-related disparity in the risk of tripping and falling among active older adults.

中文翻译：

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在活跃的老年人中，与男性相比，女性在行走时的最小脚趾间隙减少

背景 由于衰老导致的身体衰退与跌倒风险相关。最小脚趾间隙 (MTC) 是一个步态参数，可能在绊倒和跌倒机制中发挥作用。然而，尚不清楚随着人们年龄的增长，MTC 是否会产生与性别相关的影响。本研究调查了活跃的老年人中 MTC 是否存在性别相关差异。方法 23 名女性和 23 名男性（女性：65.5 ± 4.8 岁；男性：61.9 ± 5.2 岁）以首选步行速度在跑步机上行走，同时以 100 Hz 的采样频率获得运动学数据，并上采样至120 和 240 赫兹。 MTC 根据运动学数据计算并评估其大小（即 MTC 和 MTC/腿长度）、左/右 MTC 之间的时间（即 T-MTC）、变异量（即 CV 和 CVm）以及变异性的时间结构，即时间序列的复杂性（即MTCα、T-MTCα）。结果 MTC/腿长、变异量（即 CV 和 CVm）以及时间序列的复杂性（MTC α、T-MTC α）均未发现性别影响。然而，在调整步行速度、体重和年龄作为协变量后，女性表现出显着较低的 MTC 和 T-MTC。结论 女性 MTC 降低表明，活跃的老年人绊倒和跌倒的风险存在潜在的性别差异。