Age differences in abilities to perform tandem stand and walk tasks of graded difficulty

We quantified the abilities of 12 young (mean age 23.3 years) and 12 old (mean age 72.0 years) healthy women to tandem stand and tandem walk on a set of six beams, ranging from 15 cm down to 2.5 cm in width. Tandem stand tasks were conducted with eyes both open and closed. Tandem walk tasks were conducted with eyes open, and with both heel-to-toe and comfortable-distance step types. Significant age differences were found in the mean rate of successful performance for both tandem stand and tandem walk (P<0.001, rm-ANOVA). For both age groups, significant main effects for beam width were found for both tandem stand and tandem walk tasks. During tandem stand with eyes closed, young women were always successful on the widest beam while elderly women had an average success rate of only 62% and demonstrated an increased dependence on vision on narrower beams.