Immediate effect of rhythmic auditory stimulation on the spatio-temporal parameters of gait in old people: a pilot study

Abstract Objectives Evaluate the immediate effect of rhythmic auditory stimulation (RAS) with music on the spatio-temporal parameters of gait in sedentary old people and analyze possible interactions with episodes of falls. Methods Pilot intervention study with sedentary old people (n= 15), age ≥60 years, both sexes, independent in gait. Additionally, participants were divided into two groups, fallers (n= 5) and non-fallers (n= 10), based on the history of falls in the last year. The evaluation of the spatio-temporal parameters of the gait was performed using the 10-meter walk test performed with free walking (T0), repeated with RAS with music (T1), and without RAS again (T2). For data analysis, repeated measures ANOVA and two-way ANOVA were used for comparison between groups, with Tukey’s post hoc. The effect size of the intervention was also calculated. Results There was a significant reduction in time and number of steps and an increase in walking speed (p