Faster walking speed improves fitness for frail elderly people

According to the post PLOS one.

The researchers found that those who push themselves to “walking as fast as possible” are more likely to improve their functional abilities than walking at their usual laid back pace.

Test speed is making a difference

All of this is classified as weak or pre-care – meaning they have experienced weakness, fatigue and slowness, increasing the risk of falls, hospitalization and loss of independence. Participants joined a supervised 12-week walking program and were randomly assigned to a high-intensity group, brisk walking or recreational speed group, comfortable walking.

In this study, the high-intensity group increased the median walking rhythm to about 100 steps per minute, while the casual group remained close to 77. High-intensity walkers are more likely to be on a standardized six-minute walk test, while the chance of clinically meaningful improvement thresholds is tripled.

What the research found:

• High-intensity group: median rhythm of 100 steps/min in the final stage, while casual group is 77
• 65% of rash walkers achieved clinically significant improvements, while 39% of recreational walkers
• Every 14 steps/minute increases the chance of baseline growth, up by 10%
• Benefits are still available after adjusting for age, gender, education and baseline vulnerability

Why is the rhythm important

Rhythm – Steps per minute – is an easy-to-measure, objective way to measure walking intensity. Rubin notes that older people usually cannot rely on heart rate or subjective efforts to speed themselves up, especially when they take medications for blunt cardiovascular reactions. In this study, a simple accelerometer worn on the thigh recorded the rhythm of each participant during the walk, avoiding the accuracy of a wrist-based fitness tracker.

“We demonstrate that an additional 14 steps per minute above a person’s usual speed is enough to significantly improve functional abilities,” the author wrote. This is roughly the difference between an easy stroll and a light but sustainable pace.

Practical low-tech intervention

These findings support walking as a fragile scalable, low-cost intervention. Unlike strength training or balance-focused schemes, walking does not require special equipment and can be performed in familiar environments. However, the oversight design of the study suggests that some older people may benefit from encouragement and monitoring to safely maintain a brisk pace.

The authors point out that future research should explore whether unsupervised older people can use simple tools such as smartphone apps or metrology tools to achieve similar benefits to maintain a steady pace. However, the key takeaway is still clear: even a small change in walking speed can have a big impact on your abilities.

Research: Rubin DS, Hung A, Yamamoto E et al. (2025) Walking rhythm is a measure of activity intensity and its impact on the functional abilities of pre-nursing and vulnerable elderly people. PLOS one 20(7):E0323759.

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