| 1. |
- Fransson, Per-Anders, et al.
(författare)
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Balance Control and Adaptation during Vibratory Perturbations in Middle-Aged and Elderly Humans.
- 2004
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Ingår i: European Journal of Applied Physiology. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1439-6327 .- 1439-6319. ; 91:5-6, s. 595-603
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The objective was to investigate if healthy elderly people respond and adapt differently to postural disturbances compared to middle-aged people. Thirty middle-aged (mean age 37.8 years, range 24–56 years) and forty healthy elderly subjects (mean age 74.6 years, range 66–88 years) were tested with posturography. Body sway was evoked by applying pseudorandom vibratory stimulation to the belly of the gastrocnemius muscles of both legs simultaneously. The tests were performed both with eyes open and eyes closed. The anteroposterior body sway was measured with a force platform and analyzed with a method that considers the adaptive changes of posture and stimulation responses. The results showed that middle-aged people generally used a different postural control strategy as compared to the elderly. The elderly responded more rapidly to vibratory perturbation, used more high-frequency (>0.1 Hz) motions and the motion dynamics had a higher degree of complexity. Moreover, the elderly had diminished ability to use visual information to improve balance control. Altogether, despite having an effective postural control adaptation similar to that of middle-aged people, the elderly had more difficultly in withstanding balance perturbations. These findings suggest that the balance control deterioration associated with aging cannot be fully compensated for by postural control adaptation.
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| 2. |
- Kristinsdottir, E K, et al.
(författare)
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Aberrations in postural control, vibration sensation and some vestibular findings in healthy 64-92-year-old subjects
- 1997
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Ingår i: Scandinavian Journal of Rehabilitation Medicine. - 0036-5505. ; 29:4, s. 65-257
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- To assess changes in postural control among healthy elderly and to correlate with suspected age-related events, 33 women and 16 men were studied. Postural control was evaluated by vibration-induced body sway, measured on a force platform, and vibration sensation was tested with a tuning fork. Occurrence of spontaneous gaze and head-shake-induced nystagmus was observed with infrared charged couple device (CCD) cameras and the subjects' medical history was reviewed. Vibration perception was the major determinant for the magnitude of body sway. Although these senior citizens considered themselves healthy, they had a variety of ailments in their medical history, diminished vibration sensation and a high prevalence of vestibular asymmetry. Age per se was not a determinant factor in any of the findings. The study suggests that interest should also be directed to the status of sensation in the legs and vestibular asymmetry when assessing balance function in the elderly. Furthermore, the term "age concomitant" may be more appropriate than "age dependent" when describing decrements of functions such as postural control in elderly subjects.
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