Measuring Gait to Monitor Cognitive Function in Older Adults

The ability to walk safely throughout our ever-changing and unpredictable environment depends on a complex locomotor control system that calls upon numerous cognitive functions and underlying brain resources.1,2 As such, after the age of 65 years, markers of locomotor performance such as gait speed and gait variability can be used to predict not only falls but also numerous aspects of cognitive function and incident dementia.3,4 These exciting observations have increased the value of and demand for gait assessments. Such assessments have been traditionally completed either subjectively in a clinic or objectively in a laboratory with expensive equipment. The emergence of the inertial measurement unit (IMU) as an inexpensive motion capture tool, however, provides an exciting opportunity to conduct objective and accurate gait assessments in the clinic, laboratory, and even remote unsupervised settings with the specific intent to provide insight into the cognitive health of older adults.