Evaluation of gait characteristic of elderly people with visual impairment based on plantar pressure distirubtion analysis

Generally, elderly people with visual impairment walked with the walking assistive device for increasing mobility. Up to now, many types of functional assistive devices have been developed to provide safety environment during walking. However, it is very important to understand basically biomechanical characteristics of users for evaluating improved walking assistive device. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the differences in the plantar pressure distribution of elderly people with visual impairment between walking without and walking with the white cane. The plantar pressure distributions of 10 subjects were divided into six regions: whole foot, forefoot, midfoot, rearfoot, medial foot and lateral foot region. All measured data were analyzed by the maximum force, peak pressure, mean pressure, and contact area. The results showed that the plantar pressure in the whole foot of the right side more increased significantly than the left side when walking with the white cane. In addition, more asymmetrical postural balance patterns of elderly people with visual impairment were presented. These results suggest that the walking assistive device can affect the gait characteristic and postural balance continuously during walking.