For older adults, walking speed can be an indicator of their overall health – including how their musculoskeletal and cognitive systems are functioning.
Older adults diagnosed with hip osteoarthritis, a degenerative disease that affects hip joints, have been shown to walk slower than their peers, which can impact their physical activity levels.
Assistant Professor Chun-Hao (Philip) Huang, Ph.D., co-authored a study in the Journal of Orthopaedic Research that explores how hip osteoarthritis impacts walking in older adults and what interventions might help them maintain their walking speed and function.
“Identifying biomechanical mechanisms underlying reduced walking speed in people with hip osteoarthritis would thus lead to novel strategies to reduce disability and promote healthy aging in this population,” he and his colleagues wrote.
Eleven women over 60 years old with a hip osteoarthritis diagnosis participated in the study, which used an instrumented split-belt treadmill – a special kind of treadmill that has two belts at the bottom instead of one for users to walk on and a safety harness to keep individuals safe when using it.
Participants were buckled into the safety harness and completed four treadmill walking periods: A three-minute warm-up; a one-minute pre-adaptation period; a 10-minute asymmetrical period; and a one-minute post-adaptation period.
Participants selected the treadmill speed they wanted to simulate their normal walking speed, and both treadmill belts moved at the participant's set speed except during the asymmetrical period.
“The belt under the limb affected by osteoarthritis moved at half the self-selected speed, while the other belt moved at the self-selected speed,” Huang explained. “This asymmetry challenged participants' gait and aimed to encourage adaptation in step length and propulsion mechanics. Participants likely felt uneven ground movement during the asymmetry period, requiring them to adjust their walking pattern to maintain balance and coordination.”
Huang and his colleagues compared the data from their study to participant data collected during a previous, unpublished study, and they found that individuals whose gait is more varied responded positively to the treadmill intervention and could benefit from using it moving forward.
The treadmill training used in this study had a significant impact on participants’ walking – specifically, “increasing propulsive force on the involved limb with significant effects,” according to the researchers.
These results indicate that the instrumented split-belt treadmill intervention program could be beneficial for adults with hip osteoarthritis.
“Split-belt treadmill training increased propulsive force on the involved limb with significant effects,” Huang said. “Enhanced propulsive mechanics could improve walking speed, reduce fall risk and maintain independence for older adults with hip osteoarthritis.”
About the Researcher
Chun‐Hao (Philip) Huang
Department of Kinesiology and Health
Chun-Hao (Philip) Huang is an assistant professor in the Department of Kinesiology and Health. He holds a B.S. in Sports Medicine from Kaohsiung Medical University (Taiwan), an M.S. in Biokinesiology from the University of Southern California and a Ph.D. in Kinesiology from the University of Illinois at Chicago. Huang’s research focuses on unraveling the mechanisms of disability in aging adults with musculoskeletal injuries, particularly osteoarthritis (OA). His primary objective is to develop effective intervention strategies aimed at improving physical function and increasing physical activity among OA patients, with a goal of decreasing disease burden and enhancing their quality of life through interdisciplinary research approaches.
Citation
Wade, F., Huang, C. H., and Foucher, K.C. “Individual Joint Contributions to Forward Propulsion During Treadmill Walking in Women with Hip Osteoarthritis.” Journal of Orthopaedic Research, 2025, 43: 94-101. https://doi.org/10.1002/jor.25964.