Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Canberra, Australia.
Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Canberra, Australia.
J Biomech. 2022 Aug;141:111177. doi: 10.1016/j.jbiomech.2022.111177. Epub 2022 Jun 13.
Falls in older adults represent the most common cause of injuries and a major cause of mortality in this vulnerable population. The morbidity and mortality rate of falls among older people makes balance analysis in older adults very important. Therefore, this study aims to explore different metrics that can potentially be used to identify early indications of balance loss and fall risk. To that end, the motion strategies and chest and pelvis coordination of a group of younger, a group of older non-faller and a group of older faller participants while conducting the functional reach test were investigated. To analyse the motion strategies of the different participant groups, four metrics of maximum angular rotation of chest, maximum angular rotation of pelvis, time warped chest and pelvis angular rotation difference, and the mean continuous relative phase of the chest and pelvis were assessed. In this study younger participants are found to have larger maximum chest rotation, maximum pelvis rotation, and time warped chest and pelvis angular rotation difference compared to older participants. However, these metrics were not significantly different in older non-fallers compared to older fallers. Meanwhile, the mean continuous relative phase of the chest and pelvis was the only metric found to be significantly different among all three participant groups. This metric is indicative of the chest and pelvis coordination which is associated with the ability to construct proper coordination and maintain balance. The mean continuous relative phase yielded the sensitivity of 92.3% and specificity of 73.7% in recognizing older fallers from older non-fallers. The results suggest that this metric might be useful in identifying the risk of falling in older population, thus, it should be further studied in a prospective study.
老年人跌倒最常见的原因是受伤，也是这一脆弱人群的主要死亡原因。老年人跌倒的发病率和死亡率使得对老年人的平衡分析非常重要。因此，本研究旨在探讨可能用于识别平衡丧失和跌倒风险早期迹象的不同指标。为此，研究调查了一组年轻参与者、一组老年非跌倒者和一组老年跌倒者在进行功能性伸展测试时的运动策略以及胸部和骨盆的协调性。为了分析不同参与者组的运动策略，评估了四个指标：胸部最大角旋转、骨盆最大角旋转、时间扭曲的胸部和骨盆角旋转差异以及胸部和骨盆的平均连续相对相位。本研究发现，与老年参与者相比，年轻参与者的最大胸部旋转、最大骨盆旋转和时间扭曲的胸部和骨盆角旋转差异更大。然而，这些指标在老年非跌倒者与老年跌倒者之间没有显著差异。同时，胸部和骨盆的平均连续相对相位是所有三个参与者组中唯一发现有显著差异的指标。该指标表明了胸部和骨盆的协调性，这与构建适当协调和维持平衡的能力有关。该指标在识别老年跌倒者与老年非跌倒者方面的敏感性为 92.3%，特异性为 73.7%。结果表明，该指标可能有助于识别老年人群的跌倒风险，因此应在前瞻性研究中进一步研究。
