Older adults’ lower-limb muscle power production throughout a full flight of stairs: Reliability and comparison between different stair models

Abstract

Lower-limb muscle power should be closely monitored to prevent age-related functional ability declines. Stair-climbing (SC) power is a functionally relevant measurement of lower-limb muscle power. Body-fixed sensors can measure power production throughout the different steps of a flight of stairs to assess different aspects of performance. This study investigated: 1) power production throughout a full flight of stairs; 2) if staircases with less or more steps can provide similar information; and 3) test-retest reliability of SC power. 116 community-dwelling older adults (57 women) ascended three staircases as fast as possible: 12, 6 and 3 steps. Mean vertical power production per step was collected and analyzed using a commercial body-fixed sensor and software. Three phases were found in SC power production: 1) an acceleration phase, i.e., the power produced in step 1 (P1); 2) a phase where the highest performance (Pmax) is reached and; 3) a fatiguing phase with power loss (Ploss; only measurable on 12-step staircase). Mean power (Pmean) over the different steps was also evaluated. P1 did not differ between staircases (all p>0.05), whereas Pmax and Pmean were higher with increasing number of steps (p = 0.073 –p<0.001). P1, Pmax and Pmean were strongly correlated between staircases (r = 0.71–0.95, p<0.05). and showed good to excellent reliability (ICC = 0.66–0.95, p<0.05). Ploss showed poor reliability. To conclude, measurements of SC power production (P1, Pmax and Pmean) with a single sensor on the lower back are reliable across different staircases. A small, transportable, 3-step staircase can be used for measuring power production in clinical practices with no access to regular staircases. However, absolute values are dependent on the number of steps, indicating that measurements to track performance changes over time should always be done using an identical stair model.