Objective To explore the occurence of locomotive syndrome and its influencing factors in the elderly in rural areas. Methods Totally 463 elderly people from 6 administrative villages in northern part of Henan province were selected by simple random sampling method, then they were investigated using the general information questionnaire and Geriatric Locomotive Function Scale （GLFS-25）. Results The incidence rate of locomotive syndrome among the elderly in rural areas was 27.86%. There were significant differences in the incidence rate of locomotive syndrome among the elderly with different genders, ages, educational levels and number of chronic diseases （P＜0.05,P＜0.01）.Logistic regression analysis showed that, age, neuralgia or low back pain, subjective fatigue, times of fall in the past year and whether fear of fall were the main influencing factors of locomotive syndrome among the elderly in rural areas （P＜0.05,P＜0.01）. Conclusion The incidence rate of locomotive syndrome among the elderly in rural areas is higher. There are some factors influencing motor dysfunction for the elderly. It is necessary to take mearsures for the elderly at an early stage according the influencing factors of motor dysfunction, so as to reduce the risk of motor dysfunction.