Older adults utilize less efficient postural control when performing pushing task (original) (raw)
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Aging Clinical and Experimental Research
Background Dual task influences postural control. A cognitive task seems to reduce muscle excitation during a postural balance, especially in older adults (OA). Aim The aim of this study is to evaluate the effect of three cognitive tasks on muscle excitation and static postural control in OA and young adults (YA) in an upright posture maintenance task. Methods 31 YA and 30 OA were evaluated while performing a modified Romberg Test in five different conditions over a force plate: open eyes, closed eyes, spatial-memory brooks’ test, counting backwards aloud test and mental arithmetic task. The surface electromyographic signals of Tibialis anterior (TA), Lateral Gastrocnemius (GL), Peroneus Longus (PL), and Erector Spinae (ES) was acquired with an 8-channel surface electromyographic system. The following variables were computed for both the electromyographic analysis and the posturographic assessment: Root mean square (RMS), centre of pressure (CoP) excursion (Path) and velocity, sway ...
Frontiers in aging neuroscience, 2014
This study compared the effect of stability constraints imposed by a manual task on the adaptation of postural responses between 16 healthy elderly (mean age = 71.56 years, SD = 7.38) and 16 healthy young (mean age = 22.94 years, SD = 4.82) individuals. Postural stability was perturbed through unexpected release of a load attached to the participant's trunk while performing two versions of a voluntary task: holding a tray with a cylinder placed with its flat side down (low constraint) or with its rolling round side down (high constraint). Low and high constraint tasks were performed in alternate blocks of trials. Results showed that young participants adapted muscular activation and kinematics of postural responses in association with previous experience with the first block of manual task constraint, whereas the elderly modulated postural responses based on the current manual constraint. This study provides evidence for flexibility of postural strategies in the elderly to deal ...
Age-induced modifications of static postural control in humans
Neuroscience Letters, 2003
We examined how young and older adults adapt their posture to static balance tasks of increasing difficulty. Participants stood barefoot on a force platform in normal quiet, Romberg-sharpened and one-legged stance. Center of pressure (CoP) variations, electromyographic (EMG) activity of ankle and hip muscles and kinematic data were recorded. Both groups increased postural sway as a result of narrowing the base of support. Greater CoP excursions, EMG activity and joint displacements were noted in old compared to younger adults. Older adults displayed increased hip movement accompanied by higher hip EMG activity, whereas no similar increase was noted in the younger group. It is concluded that older adults rely more on their hip muscles when responding to self induced perturbations introduced by increased task constraints during quiet standing. q
Clinical Neurophysiology, 2013
Anticipatory and compensatory adjustments represent the Central Nervous System's (CNSs) ability to respond to postural disturbances, preventing loss of equilibrium and falls. Lateral instability is a strong predictor of falls in older individuals; however, data on the modulation of these adjustments, and their relationship, in muscles that provide lateral postural stability is scarce. Older adults used higher compensatory activity and similar anticipatory adjustments during lateral perturbations when compared to young individuals. Nevertheless, they showed greater postural instability after the postural disturbances.
Age-related changes in postural control to the demands of a precision task
Human movement science, 2015
Optimal sensorimotor integration is needed to maintain the precision of a visuomotor postural task. Furthermore, cognitive resources have been suggested to be involved in maintaining balance, especially in older adults. This study investigated how older and younger adults differed in employing sensorimotor strategies in a dual-task situation. Older (age 65-84years) and younger adults (age 19-30years) performed a visually-based, postural tracking task in different body orientations (from 0° to 45°), which necessitated slightly different task goals. On some trials, participants performed a concurrent silent arithmetic task with the visuomotor tracking task. The results demonstrated that sensorimotor control declined with age. Older adults showed greater medial-lateral center of pressure variability compared to younger adults in the precision task. Younger adults displayed a trend to decrease anterior-posterior variability, but older adults exhibited an opposite trend when the body ori...
European Journal of Applied Physiology, 2001
Age-related dierences in postural control in response to a relatively large deceleration resulting from postural disturbance were investigated in eight normal elderly men (age range 67±72 years) and eight young men as controls (age range 19±22 years) using a moving platform. Data were obtained for the hip, knee and ankle angles, position of the centre of foot pressure (CFP), head acceleration, and muscle activity of the leg muscles. The elderly subjects had slower and larger ankle and hip joint movements, and CFP displacement in response to the disturbance compared to the young controls. The elderly subjects also had a delayed occurrence, and greater magnitude of peak acceleration of head rotation than did the young subjects. For the elderly subjects, the CFP was closely related to angular changes in the hip joint movement, but not to those of the ankle and knee joint movements. For the young subjects, on the other hand, the CFP was signi®cantly correlated with angular change in the ankle joint. Cocontraction of the tibialis anterior and gastrocnemius muscles was observed in the elderly subjects. The results indicated that a movement pattern for postural correction in the elderly adults was dierent from that of the young adults. The elderly relied more on hip movements while the young controls relied on ankle movements to control postural stability.
Cognitive Influence on Postural Stability: A Neuromuscular Analysis in Young and Older Adults
The Journals of Gerontology Series A: Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences, 2000
Background. Previous literature indicates that attentional resources are required for recovery of postural stability. Previous studies have also examined the effect of aging on the performance of a static postural task while a secondary cognitive task is being conducted. This study describes the effect of a cognitive task on the neuromuscular response characteristics underlying reactive balance control in young versus older adults.
Influence of age on neuromuscular control during a dynamic weight-bearing task
Journal of aging and physical activity, 2009
Neuromuscular control strategies might change with age and predispose the elderly to knee-joint injury. The purposes of this study were to determine whether long latency responses (LLRs), muscle-activation patterns, and movement accuracy differ between the young and elderly during a novel single-limb-squat (SLS) task. Ten young and 10 elderly participants performed a series of resistive SLSs (approximately 0-30 degrees) while matching a computer-generated sinusoidal target. The SLS device provided a 16% body-weight resistance to knee movement. Both young and elderly showed significant overshoot error when the knee was perturbed (p < .05). Accuracy ofthe tracking taskwas similar between the young and elderly (p = .34), but the elderly required more muscle activity than the younger participants (p < .05). The elderly group had larger LLRs than the younger group (p < .05). These results support the hypothesis that neuromuscular control of the knee changes with age and might co...
Age-related changes in human postural control of prolonged standing
Gait & Posture, 2005
The aim of this study was to characterize prolonged standing and its effect on postural control in elderly individuals in comparison to adults. It is unknown how elderly individuals behave during prolonged standing and how demanding such a task is for them. We recorded the center of pressure (COP) position of 14 elderly subjects and 14 adults while they performed prolonged standing (30 min) and quiet stance tasks (60 s) on a force plate. The number and amplitude of the COP patterns, the root mean square (RMS), speed, and frequency of the COP sway were analyzed. The elderly subjects were able to stand for prolonged periods but they produced postural changes of lesser amplitude and a decreased sway during the prolonged standing task. Both the adults and the elderly subjects were influenced by the prolonged standing task, as demonstrated by their increased COP RMS and COP speed in the quiet standing trial after the prolonged standing task, in comparison to the trial before. We suggest that the lack of mobility in elderly subjects may be responsible for the observed sub-optimal postural changes in this group. The inability of elderly individuals to generate similar responses to adults during prolonged standing may contribute to the increased risk of falls in the older population. #
Performance, complexity and dynamics of force maintenance and modulation in young and older adults
PLOS ONE, 2019
The present study addresses how task constraints and aging influence isometric force control. We used two tasks requiring either force maintenance (straight line target force) or force modulation (sine-wave target force) around different force levels and at different modulation frequencies. Force levels were defined relative the individual maximum voluntary contraction. A group of young adults (mean age ± SD = 25 ± 3.6 years) and a group of elderly (mean age = 77 ± 6.4 years) took part in the study. Age-and task-related effects were assessed through differences in: (i) force control accuracy, (ii) time-structure of force fluctuations, and (iii) the contribution of deterministic (predictable) and stochastic (noiselike) dynamic components to the expressed behavior. Performance-wise, the elderly showed a pervasive lower accuracy and higher variability than the young participants. The analysis of fluctuations showed that the elderly produced force signals that were less complex than those of the young adults during the maintenance task, but the reverse was observed in the modulation task. Behavioral complexity results suggest a reduced adaptability to task-constraints with advanced age. Regarding the dynamics, we found comparable generating mechanisms in both age groups for both tasks and in all conditions, namely a fixed-point for force maintenance and a limit-cycle for force modulation. However, aging increased the stochasticity (noise-driven fluctuations) of force fluctuations in the cyclic force modulation, which could be related to the increased complexity found in elderly for this same task. To our knowledge this is the first time that these different perspectives to motor control are used simultaneously to characterize force control capacities. Our findings show their complementarity in revealing distinct aspects of sensorimotor adaptation to task constraints and age-related declines. Although further research is still needed to identify the physiological underpinnings, the used task and methodology are shown to have both fundamental and clinical applications.