1. CADENCE OF OLDER WOMEN WALKING AT SELF-SELECTED AND MUSIC-GUIDED PACE
David Rowe, Leslie Peacock, Rona Sutherland, Allan Hewitt
Physical Activity for Health Research Group
University of Strathclyde

2. INTRODUCTION – “Healthy” walking
Guidelines for health-enhancing physical activity:
150 minutes moderate intensity, or 75 minutes vigorous intensity, or combination
Walking intensity rarely monitored or regulated in older adults’ walking interventions
Focus on volume (total, or additional steps)

3. INTRODUCTION – walking intensity
Moderate intensity walking pace:
≈ 2.6 mph; 4.2 km/hr
ACSM, (GETP)
≈ 100 steps/min (young to middle-aged)
Tudor-Locke & Rowe, 2012 (Sports Medicine)
Dependent on height/stride length
Rowe et al., 2011 (Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise)
Also dependent on age
Fitzsimons et al., 2005 (J Aging Phys Activity)

4. INTRODUCTION – Typical walking speed
Murtagh et al. (2002)
3.5 (±0.8) mph
Taylor et al. (2008)
All > 3.0 mph
Parise et al. (2002)
3.0 mph (range mph)
Habitual walkers, short distance, young to middle age (except Parise et al.)

5. PURPOSE In older women:
Determine self-selected walking cadence (steps/min) and intensity (METs)
Investigate their ability to match walking cadence to music tempo (beats/min)

6. METHODS
Active older women (N=30; age=71±7 yr; height=1.58±0.08 m; weight=63.64±11.54 kg; BMI=25.52±4.31 kg/m2)
3 x 4-min treadmill walking trials at self-selected slow, moderate and fast speeds
Cadence and energy expenditure measured
3 overground trials of at least 5 min completed using music tempo matched to the three treadmill cadences, played through a portable music player
Data were analyzed using one-sample t-tests, Cohen’s d, and Bland-Altman plots

7. RESULTS – treadmill speed, energy expenditure and cadence
Self-Selected Speed
Slow
Medium
Fast
Speed (mph)
2.55
(±0.55)
2.84‡
(±0.47)
3.17‡
(±0.48)
EE (METs)
3.52*
(±0.88)
3.99*
(±1.05)
4.58*
(±1.02)
Cadence (Steps/min)
112†
(±12)
118†
(±11)
124†
‡ p < .05 higher than 2.6 mph
* p < .05 higher than 3 METs
† p < .05 higher than 100 steps/min
Cohen’s d = 0.5 to 2.0 (medium to very large) for significant differences

8. RESULTS – overground tempo-cadence discrepancy
Cohen’s d = 0.1 (trivial) for all

9. CONCLUSIONS
Active older women’s self-selected slow, moderate and fast walking pace are at above-moderate intensity
At music tempi between 86 and 158 beats/min, older women are able to match walking cadence to music tempo
Older women are able to maintain above-moderate intensity walking for a series of short continuous bouts accumulating to approximately 30 min
Music has promise for regulating walking pace in older women

10. Thank you!