Evidence of an age-related decline in achilles tendon stress across a range of walking speeds

Achilles tendon shear wave speed was measured in 16 young and 16 older adults walking at speeds ranging from 0.75 to 1.5 m/s. Subject-specific calibrations were performed and used to estimate tendon stress from wave speed. We observed a consistent and substantial decline in tendon wave speed and stress (-29%) during push-off in older adults across all walking speeds. These tendon stress reductions may contribute to the diminished ankle power often observed in elderly gait.