Mood, Depressive Illness and Gait Patterns*

This study measures the ground force patterns of 87 normal, older adults. It tests the hypothesis that there is a relation between a subject's mood as measured by the Beck Inventory, and the ground reaction forces as measured by a force plate during normal gait. Results showed that the push-off force in the posterior and downward directions was correlated with the expression of mood state. Lower mood individuals demonstrated a smaller push-off force and these ground force patterns of low mood state subjects resembled the patterns found in a previous study of clinically depressed patients. It is suggested that gait measurement could provide a sensitive index of level of depression in a clinical population.