Background
upper-limb motor behavior, arm motor behavior
There is ample evidence that mobility abilities between healthy young and elderly people differ. However, we do not know whether these differences are based on different lower leg motor capacity or instead reveal a general motor condition that could be detected by monitoring upper-limb motor behavior. We therefore captured body movements during a standard mobility task, namely the Timed Up and Go test (TUG) with subjects following different instructions while performing a rapid, repetitive goal-directed arm-movement test (arm-movement test). We hypothesized that we would be able to predict gait-related parameters from arm motor behavior, even regardless of age.