Department of Kinesiology and Health, Georgia State University, Atlanta, Georgia, United States.
J Neurophysiol. 2024 Oct 1;132(4):1115-1125. doi: 10.1152/jn.00219.2024. Epub 2024 Aug 14.
Falls and fall-induced injuries are common and consequential in older adults. Ballet emphasizes full-body coordination, leg strength, and postural control. However, it remains unknown whether ballet can indeed reduce falls in older adults. This study examined biomechanical and neuromuscular responses of older recreational ballet dancers to an unexpected standing-slip. Twenty older ballet dancers (17 females, 3 males) and 23 age- and sex-matched nondancers (19 females, 4 males) were exposed to an unexpected slip during treadmill standing. The slip-faller rate was the primary outcome. The secondary outcomes were kinematic measurements, including dynamic gait stability, slip distance, and recovery stepping performance (step latency, duration, length, and speed). The tertiary outcome was the electromyography latency of leg muscles (bilateral tibialis anterior, medial gastrocnemius, rectus femoris, and biceps femoris). Fewer dancers fell than nondancers after the standing-slip (45% vs. 83%, = 0.005, = 0.970). Dancers displayed better stability at recovery foot liftoff ( = 0.006) and touchdown ( = 0.012), a shorter step latency ( = 0.020), shorter step duration ( = 0.011), faster step speed ( = 0.032), and shorter slip distance ( = 0.015) than nondancers. They also exhibited shorter latencies than nondancers for the standing leg rectus femoris ( = 0.028) and tibialis anterior ( = 0.002), and the stepping leg biceps femoris ( = 0.031), tibialis anterior ( = 0.017), and medial gastrocnemius ( = 0.030). The results suggest that older ballet dancers experience a lower fall risk and are more stable than nondancers following an unexpected standing-slip. The greater stability among dancers could be attributed to more biomechanically effective recovery stepping, possibly associated with the ballet-induced neuromuscular benefit-an earlier leg muscle activation. This is the first study to examine how older ballet dancers respond to an unexpected external slip perturbation while standing. The results suggest that older ballet dancers experience a reduced fall risk after the slip than their nondancer counterparts. The lower fall risk can be accounted for by dancers' quicker neuromuscular reactions to the slip that result in a more effective recovery step and thus higher stability against backward falls due to the slip.
老年人中，跌倒及其引起的伤害很常见，也后果严重。芭蕾舞强调全身协调性、腿部力量和姿势控制。然而，芭蕾舞是否真的可以减少老年人跌倒，目前还不清楚。本研究旨在检测老年娱乐性芭蕾舞舞者对意外站立滑倒的生物力学和神经肌肉反应。20 名老年芭蕾舞舞者（17 名女性，3 名男性）和 23 名年龄和性别匹配的非舞者（19 名女性，4 名男性）在跑步机站立时接受了意外滑倒。跌倒率是主要结果。次要结果是运动学测量，包括动态步态稳定性、滑倒距离和恢复步行动作（步潜伏期、持续时间、长度和速度）。三级结果是腿部肌肉（双侧胫骨前肌、腓肠肌内侧头、股直肌和股二头肌）的肌电图潜伏期。滑倒后，舞者跌倒的比例低于非舞者（45%对 83%， = 0.005， = 0.970）。舞者在恢复脚离地（ = 0.006）和触地（ = 0.012）时表现出更好的稳定性，步潜伏期更短（ = 0.020），步持续时间更短（ = 0.011），步速更快（ = 0.032），滑倒距离更短（ = 0.015）。与非舞者相比，他们在站立腿股直肌（ = 0.028）和胫骨前肌（ = 0.002），以及迈步腿股二头肌（ = 0.031）、胫骨前肌（ = 0.017）和腓肠肌内侧头（ = 0.030）的肌电图潜伏期也更短。结果表明，与非舞者相比，老年芭蕾舞舞者在意外站立滑倒后跌倒风险较低，且更稳定。舞者表现出更大的稳定性可能归因于更具生物力学效果的恢复步，这可能与芭蕾舞引起的神经肌肉益处——腿部肌肉更早激活有关。这是首次研究老年芭蕾舞舞者在站立时对意外外部滑动干扰的反应。结果表明，与非舞者相比，老年芭蕾舞舞者在滑倒后跌倒的风险较低。较低的跌倒风险可以归因于舞者对滑倒的更快神经肌肉反应，这导致了更有效的恢复步，从而在滑倒时更稳定，防止向后跌倒。
