Postural sway characteristics of the elderly under normal and altered visual and support surface conditions

One of the most pervasive findings in the literature on the aged is the general slowing of cognitive-motor responses with advancing age. Hence, an increased slowness in the processing of information from vestibular, visual, and somatosensory systems could contribute greatly to a decline in postural...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of gerontology (Kirkwood) 1991-11, Vol.46 (6), p.B238-B244
Main Authors: Teasdale, N, Stelmach, G E, Breunig, A
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Aging - physiology
Analysis of Variance
Cross-Sectional Studies
Female
Foot - physiology
Humans
Male
Movement
Postural Balance - physiology
Posture - physiology
Pressure
Proprioception - physiology
Space life sciences
Stress, Mechanical
Vestibule, Labyrinth - physiology
Visual Perception - physiology
Citations: Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:One of the most pervasive findings in the literature on the aged is the general slowing of cognitive-motor responses with advancing age. Hence, an increased slowness in the processing of information from vestibular, visual, and somatosensory systems could contribute greatly to a decline in postural stability. To examine this question, in a cross-sectional investigation, postural sway behavior of elderly (n = 18) and young (n = 10) adults was examined under conditions that stressed the slower integrative mechanisms rather than the reflexive mechanisms of postural control. The postural sway behavior of young and elderly subjects was examined for a prolonged duration (80 s), under altered visual and/or support surface (5 cm thick foam surface) conditions, and contrasted with normal stance. Results showed that the exclusion or disruption of one of the sensory inputs, alone, was not consistently sufficient to differentiate between elderly and young adults, because of compensation by the remaining sensory sources. Both alterations together (i.e., visual and surface), however, had a substantially greater effect upon the elderly than the young.
ISSN:0022-1422
2331-3323
DOI:10.1093/geronj/46.6.b238