Human movement science
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Human movement science · Apr 2014
Forward-backward postural protective stepping responses in young and elderly adults.
Protective steps are essential for fall avoidance. Most studies only examined forwards stepping despite considerable bio-mechanical and visual differences between the forwards and backwards directions. We assess forward-backward differences in protective steps in a young and elderly group. ⋯ Protective steps appear more robust than voluntary steps - they are earlier (shorter RT), longer and faster than voluntary steps, indicating an automatic rather than a volitional reaction. Backwards protective steps occur earlier than forwards; such promptness may have evolved out of bio-mechanical features which make falling backwards easier. Since our elderly subjects had an average age <70years, their slower and shorter protective backwards steps may represent the first abnormality in this rescue postural response. The findings in the elderly may partly depend on dysfunction in fronto-basal ganglia postural loops.