Blaszczyk J W, Hansen P D, Lowe D L
Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology, Warsaw, Poland.
Perception. 1993;22(11):1333-41. doi: 10.1068/p221333.
Decline in the perception of the borders of postural stability due to increase in sway was evaluated in young and elderly subjects. Ranges of lateral and anteroposterior postural sway were measured in eleven young and eleven elderly subjects during maximum voluntary excursions of center of gravity while leaning forward, backward, left, and right. In both age groups, displacement of the center of gravity out of the reference position resulted in increases in the range of sway in the plane corresponding to the direction of lean. Young subjects who further displaced their center of gravity within the base of support also exhibited significantly elevated anteroposterior sway range while leaning forward and backward, both in eyes-closed and in eyes-open experimental conditions. The elderly subjects, however, showed greater mediolateral oscillation of center of gravity while leaning forward with their eyes open. No significant intergroup differences in the anteroposterior sway range during leans in the mediolateral plane were found. However, a greater mediolateral component of sway range at lateral borders of stability was observed in the young adults. Analysis of signal-to-noise ratios indicated a greater decline in stability control in the elderly, due to impairment of perception of postural stability borders.
研究评估了年轻和老年受试者因摇摆增加导致的姿势稳定性边界感知下降情况。在11名年轻受试者和11名老年受试者向前、后、左、右倾斜时重心最大自主偏移过程中，测量了他们的横向和前后姿势摇摆范围。在两个年龄组中，重心偏离参考位置都会导致在与倾斜方向对应的平面内摇摆范围增加。在闭眼和睁眼实验条件下，在支撑面内进一步偏移重心的年轻受试者在向前和向后倾斜时，其前后摇摆范围也显著增加。然而，老年受试者在睁眼向前倾斜时，其重心的中外侧摆动更大。在中外侧平面倾斜时，两组之间的前后摇摆范围没有显著差异。然而，在年轻成年人中，在稳定性边界的外侧观察到更大的摇摆范围中外侧分量。信噪比分析表明，由于姿势稳定性边界感知受损，老年人的稳定性控制下降幅度更大。
