| Compromising postural balance in the elderly. | |
| | |
MedLine Citation:
|
PMID: 19365104 Owner: NLM Status: MEDLINE |
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
|
BACKGROUND: Additional tasks that are assumed to disturb standing postural control can be divided in added motor or added cognitive tasks. It is unknown which type of task causes the most disturbances of postural control in elderly. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to determine whether the dual tasking disturbance of postural control in elderly is caused by vocal articulation or by limited attentional resources. METHODS: 39 elderly (81 +/- 7 years) were tested on a force plate in a two-legged standing position. Seven balance variables were assessed: maximum displacement and standard deviation amplitude in the medial-lateral (ML, SDML) and anterior-posterior (AP, SDAP) direction, average speed of displacement (V) and the area of the 95th percentile ellipse (AoE) and sway path (PL) per given time. The following task combinations were tested: no secondary task, repeating a number aloud (articulation), counting backwards aloud (articulation and attention), and counting backwards silently (attention). All tasks were tested with and without vision. RESULTS: A factorial ANOVA revealed main effects of additional tasks in PL, ML, SDML, AP, AoE and V. Bonferroni post-hoc analysis in a vision situation showed significant difference between no task and counting backwards aloud task in balance variables ML (p = 0.006), SDML (p = 0.002), AP (p = 0.020) and V (p = 0.003), respectively. All no-vision situations showed no significant difference between the different tasks. CONCLUSION: The findings suggest that the combined articulation and attention-demanding secondary task stressed the attentional system of elderly to such an extent that it compromised the performance of the primary task (quiet standing). The counting backwards aloud task may be used as dual task for clinical balance assessment in at-risk populations. This task was best able to disturb postural control. |
| | |
Authors:
|
Jaap Swanenburg; Eling D de Bruin; Daniel Uebelhart; Theo Mulder |
Related Documents
:
|
11548034 - Shared attentional resources for processing visual and chemosensory information. 19000734 - Contingent capture of visual-spatial attention depends on capacity-limited central mech... 10086934 - Attentional ability among survivors of leukaemia. 11766934 - Attentional momentum does not underlie the inhibition of return effect. 16042194 - Effects of hand orientation and delay on the verbal judgment of haptically perceived or... 16777654 - Age differences in the relationship between anxiety and recall. |
Publication Detail:
|
Type: Journal Article Date: 2009-04-08 |
Journal Detail:
|
Title: Gerontology Volume: 55 ISSN: 1423-0003 ISO Abbreviation: Gerontology Publication Date: 2009 |
Date Detail:
|
Created Date: 2009-05-14 Completed Date: 2009-07-22 Revised Date: - |
Medline Journal Info:
|
Nlm Unique ID: 7601655 Medline TA: Gerontology Country: Switzerland |
Other Details:
|
Languages: eng Pagination: 353-60 Citation Subset: IM |
Copyright Information:
|
Copyright 2009 S. Karger AG, Basel. |
Affiliation:
|
Department of Rheumatology and Institute of Physical Medicine, University Hospital Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland. jaap.swanenburg@usz.ch |
Export Citation:
|
APA/MLA Format Download EndNote Download BibTex |
| MeSH Terms | |
Descriptor/Qualifier:
|
Aged Aged, 80 and over Aging / physiology*, psychology Analysis of Variance Attention / physiology* Female Humans Male Neuropsychological Tests Postural Balance / physiology* Psychomotor Performance / physiology* Vision, Ocular / physiology* |
From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine
Previous Document: Respiratory Monitoring by Inductive Plethysmography in Unrestrained Subjects Using Position Sensor-A...
Next Document: Obesity, inflammation, and insulin resistance--a mini-review.