Johnson E, Ellmers T J, Muehlbauer T, Lord S R, Hill M W
Centre for Physical Activity, Sport and Exercise Sciences, Coventry University, Coventry, United Kingdom.
Department of Brain Sciences, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom.
Exp Gerontol. 2023 Dec;184:112338. doi: 10.1016/j.exger.2023.112338. Epub 2023 Nov 30.
The purpose of this study was to explore the effects of arm movements on postural control when standing under different sensory conditions in healthy young and older adults. Fifteen young (mean ± SD age; 21.3 ± 4.2 years) and 15 older (mean ± SD age; 73.3 ± 5.0 years) adults completed the modified Romberg test, which uses four task manipulations (i.e. eyes open and eyes closed on a firm and foam surface) to compromise the fidelity of sensory feedback mechanisms. Each participant completed the tasks under two arm movement conditions: restricted and free arm movements. Centre of pressure (COP) range and frequency were calculated to characterise postural performance and strategy, respectively. Older adults showed greater COP range with restricted compared to free arm movements during all modified sensory conditions, with these effects most prominent in the medio-lateral (ML) plane (all p < .05, Cohen's d = 0.69-1.61). Compared to the free arm movement condition, there was an increase in ML displacement and frequency when arm movements were restricted during only the most challenging (i.e. vestibular dominant) task in young adults (all p < .05, d = 0.645-0.83). Finally, main age effects for the arm restriction cost (p < .05) indicates a greater reliance on an upper body strategy in older compared to young adults, independent of sensory availability/accuracy. These findings indicate that older adults compensate for the loss of accuracy in sensory input by increasing reliance on upper body movement strategies.
本研究的目的是探讨在不同感觉条件下站立时，手臂运动对健康年轻人和老年人姿势控制的影响。15名年轻人（平均±标准差年龄；21.3±4.2岁）和15名老年人（平均±标准差年龄；73.3±5.0岁）完成了改良的罗姆伯格测试，该测试使用四种任务操作（即在坚实和泡沫表面睁眼和闭眼）来损害感觉反馈机制的保真度。每位参与者在两种手臂运动条件下完成任务：受限手臂运动和自由手臂运动。计算压力中心（COP）范围和频率，分别以表征姿势表现和策略。在所有改良感觉条件下，与自由手臂运动相比，老年人在受限手臂运动时显示出更大的COP范围，这些影响在中外侧（ML）平面最为显著（所有p<.05，科恩d=0.69-1.61）。与自由手臂运动条件相比，仅在年轻人最具挑战性（即前庭主导）的任务中，当手臂运动受限时，ML位移和频率增加（所有p<.05，d=0.645-0.83）。最后，手臂限制成本的主要年龄效应（p<.05）表明，与年轻人相比，老年人更依赖上身策略，与感觉可用性/准确性无关。这些发现表明，老年人通过增加对上半身运动策略的依赖来补偿感觉输入准确性的损失。
