## 4 Discussion  
The literature lacks studies comparing the free gait with the NW gait of healthy elderly individuals, which would allow the development of an NW gait pattern. Most studies focus on the use of NW as a training method to improve the efficiency of elderly individuals or for specific conditions stemming from functional deficits associated with circulatory, vascular, locomotor, and nervous system diseases. This limits the possibility of comparing the results of our research with those of other authors. The authors' research showed only statistically significant differences in 4 out of 37 analysed kinematic parameters and one (stride time) statistically significant difference in spatio-temporal parameters of free walking, walking with classic NW poles, and mechatronic poles among elderly individuals with no prior experience in NW. In our study, there were no changes characteristic of the NW gait compared to the free walking shown in the studies of other authors: greater stride length, shorter cadence, greater mobility ranges in the joints of the upper and lower limbs, and muscle involvement, especially in the hip and ankle joints [12; 27]. Our previous research on the gait of NW instructors with classic and mechatronic poles revealed most of the significant differences in time parameters (stance phase, swing phase, single support, double support, loading response, and pre-swing) between the three types of gait, which differences were not confirmed in older people. The analysis of the kinematic parameters of gait in the group of NW instructors and older people  
Figure 2: The utilisation of either standard or mechatronic poles leads to alterations in selected gait kinematic parameters. It’s important to note that the \(p\)-values derived from [PERSON]’s post hoc analysis signify variances in walking with poles as compared to standard walking without poles. The mean values, represented by points with vertical segments, hold a 95% confidence level, indicating their statistical significance. showed significant differences in wrist radial-ulnar and wrist supination-pronation. In the remaining parameters regarding the joints of the upper limb, no significant differences were confirmed among the NW instructors. In the parameters relating to the joints of the lower limb in the group of NW instructors, significant differences were found for hip flexion-extension, ankle ab/adduction, and ankle inversion-eversion. No significant differences in the group of elderly people were confirmed for kinematic parameters of lower limb joints and trunk movements [28]. The observations of other authors, who showed an extension of double and single support during the NW gait of older adults compared to free walking (without poles), have also not been confirmed [13]. This may result from the study of people with various levels of physical fitness and the advancement of their NW technique, which significantly limits the possibility of a reliable comparison of the results obtained by different authors. On the other hand, the presence of only one statistically significant difference in the spatio-temporal parameters and the lack of significance of the vast majority of kinematic parameters in our study indicate that older people use free walking patterns during NW walking, meaning that they do not make use of the possibilities offered by walking poles. This outcome could be attributed to factors such as habitual walking patterns deeply ingrained over the years, a lack of specific training to effectively use the poles, or possibly the cognitive and physical adaptability required for older adults to modify established motor patterns.