Effects of a Group Exercise on the Center of Mass of Elderly People with a High Risk of Falling

Older people face an increased risk of falling which can cause minor bruises, serious injury, or even death. This happens because as age progresses, the musculoskeletal system deteriorates, and maintaining balance becomes challenging. To counter that, exercise is recommended to help individuals main...

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Main Authors: Menychtas, Dimitrios, Kouli, Evgenia, Gkrekidis, Athanasios, Kanavaki, Archontissa, Pavlidou, Stefania, Nasiou, Elpiniki, Abrasi, Evangelia, Kontogiannis, Georgios, Douda, Helen T., Michalopoulou, Maria, Smilios, Ilias, Gourgoulis, Vassilios, Sirakoulis, Georgios Ch, Aggelousis, Nikolaos
Format: Conference Proceeding
Language:English
Subjects:
Balancing
Center of Mass
Elderly
Group Exercise
Muscles
Nanoscale devices
Particle measurements
Perturbation methods
Perturbations
Strengthening
Task analysis
Training
Velocity measurement
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Summary:Older people face an increased risk of falling which can cause minor bruises, serious injury, or even death. This happens because as age progresses, the musculoskeletal system deteriorates, and maintaining balance becomes challenging. To counter that, exercise is recommended to help individuals maintain muscle mass. However, the effects of exercise have not been adequately quantified. In this work, 13 senior individuals participated in a group strengthening and balance program. They performed reactive balancing tasks before and after the training program and their stability was evaluated. The mean velocity norm of their center of mass was calculated to measure the impact of the exercise. Results show decreased mean velocity of the center of mass which implies increased stability. The effects are more pronounced during challenging tasks such as reacting to perturbations with their eyes closed. In conclusion, exercise had a quantifiable impact on the stability of the participants which should reduce their risk of experiencing falls in the future.
ISSN:2165-0179
DOI:10.1109/CNNA60945.2023.10652632