Affiliations: Department of Kinesiology and Community Health, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, USA
Correspondence:
[*]
Address for correspondence: Robert W. Motl, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Department of Kinesiology and Community Health, 233 Freer Hall, 906 South Goodwin Ave., Urbana, IL 61801, USA. Tel.: +1 217 265 0886; Fax: +1 217 244 7322; [email protected]
Abstract:
BACKGROUND: There is psychometric evidence that supports the six-minute walk (6MW) as a measure of walking performance, whereas other psychometric data support it as a submaximal measure of physical fitness in persons with MS.
OBJECTIVE: The current cross-sectional study compared measures of walking performance and physical fitness as head-to-head predictors of 6MW distance in a sample of persons with MS across the disability spectrum.
METHODS: All participants completed the 6MW test, as well as other measures of walking performance (i.e., timed-25 foot walk, gait velocity captured by a GaitRitetrademark electronic walkway) and physical fitness (i.e., peak aerobic capacity, lower limb muscular strength).
RESULTS: 6MW distance was strongly associated with measures of walking performance and physical fitness, though the correlations were significantly stronger for measures of walking performance than physical fitness (z > 4.04, p < 0.01). Walking performance explained a large portion of variance in 6MW distance (R
2 > 0.85), and measures of physical fitness explained minimal variance in 6MW distance over-and-above that of measures of walking performance (ΔR2
< 0.06).
CONCLUSIONS: The current results suggest that 6MW distance is primarily a measure of walking performance rather than aerobic and muscular fitness in MS.
