International journal of rehabilitation research. Internationale Zeitschrift für Rehabilitationsforschung. Revue internationale de recherches de réadaptation
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Organization of functional postural responses following perturbations in multiple directions in elderly fallers standing quietly.
The objective of the study was to assess functional postural responses by analyzing the center-of-pressure trajectories resulting from perturbations delivered in multiple directions to elderly fallers. Ten elderly individuals were standing quietly on two force platforms while an apparatus delivered controlled perturbations at the level of pelvis in eight directions: 'forward (FW)' and 'backward (BW)' [anterioposterior plane (AP)], 'left (LT)' and 'right (RT)' [mediolateral plane (ML)] and four combinations of these principal directions: forward-left (FL), forward-right (FR), backward-left (BL) and backward-right (BR). Perturbations were repeated randomly four times in each direction. ⋯ The comparison of the group averaged PARAP and TPAR-AP in all 'forward' directions (FW, FL, FR) as well in all 'backward' directions (BW, BL, BR) have not shown statistically significant differences. The comparison of the group averaged PARML and TPAR-ML in all 'left' directions (LT, FL, BL) as well in all 'right' directions (RT, FR, BR) have not shown statistically significant differences. These results suggest that a principle of decoupled control may to a large extent be preserved also in elderly with clearly diminished balancing abilities, which implies that the accuracy in the assessment of perturbation direction may be well preserved also in very old age.