Bernard-Demanze Laurence, Vuillerme Nicolas, Ferry Myriam, Berger Loetitia
Laboratoire de Modélisation des Activités Sportives, Domaine Universitaire de Savoie-Technolac, Le Bourget du Lac cedex, France.
Aging Clin Exp Res. 2009 Feb;21(1):62-8. doi: 10.1007/BF03324900.
Complex interactions between visual, vestibular and somatosensory information and the cerebellar system are involved in the maintenance of upright posture. Previous studies have shown that normal aging and pathologies may lead to deterioration of the control of upright standing posture.
In order to investigate postural control during quiet standing in the elderly, the center of pressure (CoP) was analysed on two force platforms in three different groups. The first group was composed of 13 healthy older adults (O), the second consisted of 9 older adults with plantar sole deficit (OD), and the third (control) group was composed of 8 young healthy subjects (Y). All subjects were tested with eyes closed, before and after tactile plantar stimulation lasting ten minutes. Center of pressure displacements were analyzed in terms of sway area, mean velocity, and mean root mean square (RMS) along both mediolateral and antero-posterior axes.
Results showed that, before tactile plantar stimulation, the sway area and mean RMS were greater in O and OD subjects compared with Y ones. After tactile plantar stimulation, a decrease in the mean RMS was observed in OD subjects, this effect being significant only for the medio-lateral axis.
These results suggest that application of tactile plantar stimulation may compensate a loss of superficial plantar sensitivity.
视觉、前庭和体感信息与小脑系统之间的复杂相互作用参与维持直立姿势。先前的研究表明，正常衰老和疾病可能导致直立站立姿势控制能力下降。
为了研究老年人安静站立时的姿势控制，在三个不同组别的两个测力平台上分析了压力中心（CoP）。第一组由13名健康老年人（O）组成，第二组由9名足底感觉缺失的老年人（OD）组成，第三组（对照组）由8名年轻健康受试者（Y）组成。所有受试者在闭眼状态下，接受持续10分钟的足底触觉刺激前后均进行了测试。从摆动面积、平均速度以及沿内外侧和前后轴的均方根（RMS）平均值方面分析了压力中心位移。
结果显示，在足底触觉刺激前，O组和OD组受试者的摆动面积和均方根平均值比Y组受试者更大。足底触觉刺激后，OD组受试者的均方根平均值有所下降，这种效应仅在内外侧轴上显著。
这些结果表明，应用足底触觉刺激可能补偿足底表面感觉丧失。
