A new study has found evidence that as a person ages, their balance deteriorates faster than muscle strength or walking speed.
“To our knowledge, such a comparison is the first of its kind in the elderly population,” the team writes in the published paper. “This study highlights the importance of the unipedal balance test in monitoring elderly subjects in the community, regardless of gender.”
The authors, led by biomedical engineer Asghar Rezaei of the Mayo Clinic, hope their results can improve exercise programs for the elderly population, maintaining their physical independence for as long as possible.
A unipedal balance test is often used for older adults because balance is a known measure of neuromuscular aging.
A 1997 study, for example, showed that people who were unable to balance on one leg for 5 seconds were twice as likely to suffer a future accidental fall, indicating their level of physical frailty. This type of test can also indicate neurological problems.
Balance deteriorates faster than muscle strength
The new study investigates how long a person should be able to balance, given their age.
In a group of 40 healthy people aged 50 and over, researchers found that the length of time a person could stand on the non-dominant leg decreased by about 2.2 seconds per decade, regardless of sex.
Time spent on the dominant foot, meanwhile, has fallen by 1.7 seconds per decade. When standing on one leg, the number of times a person wobbled in place was not related to age.
Although the cohort is small, this simple balance test showed significant age-related declines — more so than measures of muscle strength, such as gripping or extending the knee against resistance, they write ScienceAlert.
Walking speed, meanwhile, did not show significant age-related changes.
“This finding is significant because this balance measurement does not require specialized expertise, advanced instrumentation, or measurement and interpretation techniques,” they add. “It can be easily performed, even by individuals themselves.”
The swaying was not a sign of age-related decline
Each balance test performed in the study lasted 30 seconds. First, participants were asked to stand on both legs with their eyes open and their arms at their sides. Then, they did the same thing with their eyes closed.
Lifting their dominant leg, participants then repeated the task as far as they could with their eyes open and then closed. The non-dominant leg was also tested. Participants sat on a board and had their center of pressure measured so that any subtle oscillations could be picked up and analyzed.
“Although all subjects could easily maintain their balance during the bilateral tests, the results showed that their postural sway movements increased significantly with age,” the team writes.
However, when it came to standing on one leg, the wobble was not a sign of age-related decline.
The findings suggest that swinging is a normal part when only one leg is involved, but when both legs are involved, it could indicate a problem.
The study was published in PLOS ONE.
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Source: www.descopera.ro
