• Hülya Donat, Ayşe Ozcan, Mehtap Ozdirenç, Gazanfer Aksakoğlu, and Saniye Aydinoğlu.
• DEU Health Science Institute Physiotherapy Program, Izmir, Turkey.
• Aging Clin Exp Res. 2005 Oct 1;17(5):380-4.

Background And AimsHand function weakens with age in both men and women, especially after the age of 65. As the number of older people increases, more older adults may have sensorimotor impairment, which affects upper extremity (UE) performance and thus independence in the activities of daily life. The purpose of this study was to detect and evaluate the impact of age on pressure pain threshold (PPT), touch/pressure threshold and grip strength in the decades after the age of 60.MethodsThe study was carried out with the participation of older adults living in the Izmir Geriatric Centre. Older adults were subdivided into three age groups and 128 subjects (47 male, 81 female) were selected systematically as one out of every three individuals in each group (group 1: 60 to 69; group 2: 70 to 79; group 3: 80 or over). Touch/pressure threshold test, pressure pain threshold (PPT) test and grip strength measurement were performed on dominant and non-dominant hands.ResultsIt was found out that touch/pressure thresholds increased with age, but the change was not statistically significant between the three age groups. PPT and grip strength of dominant and non-dominant hands decreased from groups 1 to 3, but analysis indicated that these declines were not statistically significant.ConclusionsDespite the fact that age-related sensorimotor changes are not statistically significant, a reduction is seen in sensorimotor parameters after the age of 60.

22 keywords...

hide…