File
Ishikawa Y1,2, Nakagawa H1, Kanai A1
1Toyohashi SOZO University, Graduate School of Health Sciences, Toyohashi, Japan, 2Nishio Hospital, Department of Rehabilitation, Nishio, Japan
Background: Postural control of elderly people while standing is strongly affected by their surrounding environment due to relatively increased dependence on vision. When we consider the prevention of the elderly from falling, it is important to note that the information in their surrounding environment obtained from visual perception affects their postural control while standing. However, previous studies have investigated only two-dimensional visual stimulation and visual effects on younger people. We believe that such experimental conditions are not realistic environments when studying the postural control of the elderly. For conducting such test for the elderly, three-dimensional visual stimulus (Spatial Positioning Information) must be considered and the study should specifically be conducted using elderly subjects.
Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the age related changes of postural control by investigating the influence of visual spatial position information on younger and elderly subjects.
Methods: The subjects were 31 younger men/women (mean age, 22.6 ± 2.9 years) ('Younger Group') and 28 elderly men/women (mean age, 75.0 ± 5.1 years) ('Elderly Group'). The subjects of both groups were asked to stand on a force-plate in the Romberg position and fix their eyes on a single point placed in front of them. A total of 10 visual information columns were then positioned around the subjects. The point placed immediately in front of the subject was 0°, and other points were placed at 10°, 30°, 50°, 70°. Also as control, the same test was conducted on the subjects without applying any visual information. Except 0 ° and control, visual information was set radially from left to right of the subjects and a posturography was then taken using a G-6100 Anima gravicorder (ANIMA Corporation, Tokyo, Japan), at a sampling frequency of 20Hz. The sampling time was 30 seconds and the parameters were the total length of CoP and surrounding area. Friedman´s test was used for the comparison of each condition, Kruskal-Wallis test was conducted for multiple comparisons and a p value less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant.
Results: The Friedman test indicated a significant difference in all the parameters of the younger and elderly group (p 0.01). Regarding the post-hoc test, in the younger group, the right 70° numbers were significantly lower than the 0° numbers (p 0.05). In the elderly group, the total length of CoP and surrounding area at points left 10°n, 0°and right 10° were significantly lower than control (all p 0.05).
Conclusion(s): The results of this study suggest that postural control of the elderly while standing is more dependent on visual perception than younger people and that visual information contributes to postural control in the elderly while standing when it exists near their central field of vision.
Implications: Rehabilitation professionals need to understand that postural control of elderly people while standing is more susceptible to the surrounding environment than younger people. To provide a safe daily living environment for elderly people, it may be effective to provide stable and clear visual information in their central field of vision.
Keywords: postural control, elderly, visual
Funding acknowledgements: No funding acknowledgements.
Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the age related changes of postural control by investigating the influence of visual spatial position information on younger and elderly subjects.
Methods: The subjects were 31 younger men/women (mean age, 22.6 ± 2.9 years) ('Younger Group') and 28 elderly men/women (mean age, 75.0 ± 5.1 years) ('Elderly Group'). The subjects of both groups were asked to stand on a force-plate in the Romberg position and fix their eyes on a single point placed in front of them. A total of 10 visual information columns were then positioned around the subjects. The point placed immediately in front of the subject was 0°, and other points were placed at 10°, 30°, 50°, 70°. Also as control, the same test was conducted on the subjects without applying any visual information. Except 0 ° and control, visual information was set radially from left to right of the subjects and a posturography was then taken using a G-6100 Anima gravicorder (ANIMA Corporation, Tokyo, Japan), at a sampling frequency of 20Hz. The sampling time was 30 seconds and the parameters were the total length of CoP and surrounding area. Friedman´s test was used for the comparison of each condition, Kruskal-Wallis test was conducted for multiple comparisons and a p value less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant.
Results: The Friedman test indicated a significant difference in all the parameters of the younger and elderly group (p 0.01). Regarding the post-hoc test, in the younger group, the right 70° numbers were significantly lower than the 0° numbers (p 0.05). In the elderly group, the total length of CoP and surrounding area at points left 10°n, 0°and right 10° were significantly lower than control (all p 0.05).
Conclusion(s): The results of this study suggest that postural control of the elderly while standing is more dependent on visual perception than younger people and that visual information contributes to postural control in the elderly while standing when it exists near their central field of vision.
Implications: Rehabilitation professionals need to understand that postural control of elderly people while standing is more susceptible to the surrounding environment than younger people. To provide a safe daily living environment for elderly people, it may be effective to provide stable and clear visual information in their central field of vision.
Keywords: postural control, elderly, visual
Funding acknowledgements: No funding acknowledgements.
Topic: Human movement analysis; Older people; Outcome measurement
Ethics approval required: Yes
Institution: Toyohashi SOZO University
Ethics committee: The Ethics Committee at Toyohashi SOZO University
Ethics number: H2017007
All authors, affiliations and abstracts have been published as submitted.
