Cellular phone texting impairs gait in able-bodied young adults.

Cellular phone texting has become increasingly popular, raising the risk of distraction related injuries. The purpose of this study was to compare alterations in gait parameters during normal gait as opposed to walking while texting. Thirty able-bodied young adults (age = 20±2yrs, height = 171±40cm, mass = 61.7±11.2kg) who reported texting on a regular basis were tested using an 11-camera optical motion capture system as they walked across an 8m, obstacle-free floor. A reduction in velocity (p Keywords: Driver distraction; Language: en