Dual Task Gait Cost

Measure percentage change in gait speed during a dual task.

Description

Dual-task gait cost expresses speed reduction relative to single-task speed.

Dual-task gait cost expresses speed reduction relative to single-task speed. A faster dual-task trial produces a negative cost.^[1]

Measure percentage change in gait speed during a dual task.

When to use Dual Task Gait Cost

Use this tool to measure percentage change in gait speed during a dual task.

Prepare the measured movement, timing, load or preassigned score requested. Keep protocols, units, paired measurements and caller-selected thresholds consistent.

How to use Dual Task Gait Cost and understand its results

Prepare the measured movement, timing, load or preassigned score requested. Keep protocols, units, paired measurements and caller-selected thresholds consistent.
Enter singleTaskMps, dualTaskMps using the field table and calculation rules, then run the tool.
Read gaitCostPercent, dualToSingleRatio. The explanation below defines the units, signs, ordering and any flags or placeholder values.
If the tool reports an input issue, correct the values and run it again. Apply the stated assumptions when interpreting a successfully returned result.

Input field	Meaning	Value type; see rules below	Requirement
singleTaskMps	Single task mps	number	Required
dualTaskMps	Dual task mps	number	Required

Enter positive baseline and nonnegative dual-task m/s. Return ratio and signed cost percentage.

ratio=dual/single; cost%=100(1−ratio)

Units, indexing, boundary conditions and exceptional cases are defined in the calculation rules above.

Output field	Meaning	Value type
gaitCostPercent	Gait cost percent	number
dualToSingleRatio	Dual to single ratio	number

json

{
  "input": {
    "singleTaskMps": 2,
    "dualTaskMps": 1
  },
  "output": {
    "gaitCostPercent": 50,
    "dualToSingleRatio": 0.5
  }
}

Limitations and assumptions

No task difficulty, attention measure or clinical interpretation is established.

Numeric inputs must be finite. Follow the calculation-specific rules for overflow, underflow and exceptional cases. Missing required fields, extra fields, wrong value types and violations of the calculation rules are input errors.

Alternative or Complementary methods

Use Ten Meter Gait Speed: Compare comfortable and fast gait velocities over the same measured walkway. For a complementary task, use Gait Duty Factor: Calculate stance duty factor and compare against a supplied walking cutoff.

References

Dual Task Gait Cost — tool.io

Similar or alternative tools

Ten Meter Gait Speed
Compare comfortable and fast gait velocities over the same measured walkway.
Gait Duty Factor
Calculate stance duty factor and compare against a supplied walking cutoff.