Interaction between proprioceptive sensitivity and the attentional demand for dynamic postural control in sedentary seniors: A pilot study

Abstract

Introduction Postural instabilities and falls among seniors have been attributed to both a decline in proprioceptive function as well as an inability to efficiently allocate attention to balance in multi-task conditions. This study aims to explore the interaction between proprioceptive sensitivity and attentional demand for dynamic postural control in seniors. Material and methods Old and young sedentary adults performed a postural stability limit task in five experimental conditions that varied the availability of vision and the presence of a secondary attentional task: – attentional task; – postural task with eyes open; – postural task with eyes closed; – postural task with eyes open and secondary attentional task; – postural task with eyes closed and secondary attentional task. Ground reaction force data was collected at 200 Hz using an AMTI force platform and center of foot pressure (COP) was analysed. The functional limits of stability were quantified as the maximum center of pressure excursion during voluntary leaning in each direction. We hypothesized that the greatest age-related differences in performing this stability limit task would seen under the dual-task condition because of limitations in attentional resources available for concurrently coping with high proprioceptive and cognitive demands. Results The findings demonstrate the impact of removing visual-information is more important when older adults are required to perform the attentional task simultaneously with the postural stability limit task. Discussion This suggests that increasing the demand for proprioceptive processing increases the attentional cost of postural control, consistent with a significant interaction between proprioception and attention in the postural control of seniors.