Graphics Reference
In-Depth Information
body's ability to regenerate or heal is impaired. Movement in the elderly
becomes slower; their reaction times become slower as well. As a body ages,
a range of health issues may cause changes in gait and the manner in which
the person undertakes certain actions. Some actions become increasingly
difficult or no longer possible at all. For these reasons, actions of the elderly
often resemble those of very young children. For example, as climbing stairs
becomes difficult, the elderly person may take to walking up one step at a
time, placing both feet on a single step. There will often be a preference for a
particular foot to move upward first so that this leg takes the heaviest workload
of the climb. Balance often becomes an issue, too, and it is common for the
elderly to use walking aids such as sticks or walkers. As with young children, the
elderly often find difficulty in carrying certain objects, which may result in them
tipping or dropping them, perhaps in part due to weakened body strength. The
onset of frailty may increase a person's sense of insecurity and create a lack of
confidence, which often results in a shortened walking stride length. This may
in turn result in a shuffling gait. The hands are often placed on objects such as
rails or furniture or against a wall in an attempt to maintain stability.
Movement and the Environment
It is not only the figure itself or the loads under which it moves that determine
the nature of the action. The very environment in which that figure moves will
also, to varying degrees, have a discernible impact.
Perhaps the greatest of these environmental issues is the nature of the surface
on which a figure moves. Slippery, smooth, uneven or unstable, viscous, dry,
or wet surfaces can each result in a different type of action. The surface's
quality is most likely to have a noticeable effect on the action. If the surface is
firm and stable, a figure will be able to move in an optimum manner. Moving
through a field of waist-high grass is very different from strolling along a flat
and closely cropped lawn.
Weather conditions and ambient temperature may also affect the nature of
an action. Extreme cold or heat may cause a figure to move more slowly in
an attempt to either conserve energy and warmth or, in hotter climates, to
maintain a cooler body temperature and sustain a physical action that may be
more difficult to maintain in high temperatures.
As we have already seen, figures moving at very high altitudes find the
physical effort additionally arduous due to thin air and lack of oxygen. This has
the effect of slowing actions and increasing fatigue. Some mountain climbers
may suffer the effects of altitude sickness when they climb at extreme
altitudes. Symptoms of such sickness vary, and not everyone is susceptible
to altitude sickness to the same degree or succumbs to the sickness at the
same altitude. In extreme cases climbers may be in real physical danger from
altitude sickness, and the effects are potentially fatal.
Weather conditions may also result in a change in gait, as in a figure hunching
over with head down in a strong wind, heavy rain, or snow.
