Assessment of the musculoskeletal performance with squat tests and performance-oriented measurements in older adults.

Background: Balance and mobility impairments, declined musculoskeletal strength and performance, limited range of motion, and poor flexibility are fairly common among older adults.

Objectives: To determine the lower extremity muscle force and to verify the correlation with the gait characteristics and balance in community dwelling older adults.

Methods: Seventy-five adults with a mean age of 75.07 ± 6.28 years were included in the study. All participants were evaluated with the following tests: half squat (HS), decline squat (DS), foot print analysis (step length, step wide, stride length, walking velocity and cadence) and Tinetti Performance Oriented Mobility Assessment (POMA).

Results: HS and DS test scores were significantly correlated with Tinetti Balance and Gait Assessment scores and gait characteristics, except step wide (p< 0.01). The results of this study showed that the participants who have higher scores in the squat tests, showed higher scores in terms of POMA (p< 0.01).

Conclusion: Appropriate and direct assessment of lower limb power and performance in balance and gait tests should be done to identify functioning of the older adults. Half and eccentric decline squat tests used in this study were useful, cheap and easy. The squat tests can be used to determine the relationship between balance and gait characteristics, in addition to predicting the musculoskeletal performance in older adults.