Article
Age and gender effects on postural control measures

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Abstract

Objective:

Identifying age-related changes in the postural control system is an important first step towards understanding the risk for falls in older adults. The purpose of this study was to determine whether age or gender had any effects on six relatively new postural control measures.

Design:

Cross-sectional, 2 × 2 factorial design, representing two ages (younger [20 to 35 years], and older [60 to 75 years]) and both sexes.

Setting:

University campus.

Participants:

Twenty-four community dwelling healthy adults (12 women, 12 men) participated in each of the younger and older groups.

Main Outcome Measures:

Outcome measures included five force platform measures and functional reach (cm). The force platform measures, obtained using the Balance Master system, included movement time and path length to targets, and sway area under conditions of eyes open, eyes closed, and with visual feedback.

Results:

Although gender was not significant for any outcome measure, age was significant in all six outcome measures. Older adults demonstrated larger areas of sway regardless of condition (eyes open, eyes closed or with visual feedback). Older adults had longer movement times, longer path lengths, and shorter distances of functional reach when compared with younger adults.

Conclusions:

The results suggest that the measures studied are sensitive to age-related changes in healthy elderly.

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    Supported in part by the Foundation for Physical Therapy (Doctoral Research Award 93D-16-Hag) and the National Institute on Aging (Geriatric Leadership Academic Award 2 K07 AG00474).

    This work was completed by Patricia A. Hageman, PhD, in partial fulfillment of graduate requirements for the Doctorate of Philosophy degree at the University of Nebraska Medical Center.

    No commercial party having a direct financial interest in the results of the research supporting this article has or will confer a benefit upon the authors or upon any organization with which the authors are associated.

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