Toledo Diana R, Barela José A
Laboratório para Estudos do Movimento, Departamento de Educação Física, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade Estadual Paulista, Rio Claro, SP, Brasil.
Rev Bras Fisioter. 2010 May-Jun;14(3):267-75.
The aim of this study was to compare the performance of the sensory and motor systems and the contributions of possible differences to postural control.
Twenty older adults (68.9+/-3.7 years of age) and twenty young adults (21.9+/-2.1 years of age) underwent visual, somatosensory (tactile and kinesthetic sensitivity), motor tests (joint torque and muscle activation latency) and postural control assessments (upright semi-tandem posture).
MANOVA and ANOVA indicated that older adults had a poorer performance in the sensory tests: visual acuity (p=0.001), visual contrast sensitivity (p=0.009), tactile sensitivity (p<0.001) and kinesthetic sensitivity of the knee (p<0.001) and ankle (<0.001); and in the motor tests: female (p=0.010) and male (p<0.001) knee flexion torque; female (p=0.002) and male (p<0.001) knee extension torque; female (p=0.029) and male (p=0.006) ankle dorsiflexion torque; female (p=0.004) and male (p=0.004) ankle plantar flexion torque; and muscle activation latency (p<0.001). The older adults also had greater body sway amplitude on the anterior-posterior direction (p=0.035). Multiple regression analysis revealed that perception of passive motion was the only variable that contributed to greater body sway on the anterior-posterior direction among older adults (R(2)=0.142; p<0.05).
There are differences in sensory and motor performance between young adults and older adults, and attention should be directed toward the contribution of the proprioceptive system to postural control among older adults.
本研究旨在比较感觉和运动系统的表现以及可能存在的差异对姿势控制的影响。
20名老年人（年龄68.9±3.7岁）和20名年轻人（年龄21.9±2.1岁）接受了视觉、躯体感觉（触觉和动觉敏感性）、运动测试（关节扭矩和肌肉激活潜伏期）以及姿势控制评估（直立半串联姿势）。
多变量方差分析（MANOVA）和方差分析（ANOVA）表明，老年人在感觉测试中的表现较差：视力（p = 0.001）、视觉对比敏感度（p = 0.009）、触觉敏感度（p < 0.001）以及膝关节（p < 0.001）和踝关节（p < 0.001）的动觉敏感度；在运动测试中：女性（p = 0.010）和男性（p < 0.001）的膝关节屈曲扭矩；女性（p = 0.002）和男性（p < 0.001）的膝关节伸展扭矩；女性（p = 0.029）和男性（p = 0.006）的踝关节背屈扭矩；女性（p = 0.004）和男性（p = 0.004）的踝关节跖屈扭矩；以及肌肉激活潜伏期（p < 0.001）。老年人在前后方向上的身体摆动幅度也更大（p = 0.035）。多元回归分析显示，被动运动感知是导致老年人在前后方向上身体摆动更大的唯一变量（R² = 0.142；p < 0.05）。
年轻人和老年人在感觉和运动表现上存在差异，应关注本体感觉系统对老年人姿势控制的影响。
