Medial-lateral postural stability in community-dwelling women over 40 years of age.

Abstract

To document the change in medial-lateral balance in women aged between 40 and 80 years. A cross-sectional study of six measures of medial-lateral balance was undertaken. The Betty Byrne Henderson Centre for Women and Ageing, Royal Women's Hospital, Australia. Five hundred and three community-dwelling women between 40 and 80 years of age were randomly recruited from a large metropolitan region with 366 subjects admitted after applying exclusion criteria. The clinical measurements included the lateral reach and step tests while laboratory measurements were gathered from the Balance Master software programs for unilateral stance and limits of stability. A significant decline in all measures (p < 0.02) was evident between the forties and sixties age decade cohorts. The clinical step test showed a significant (p < 0.001) decline between the forties and fifties groups. A significant correlation was shown between step test and unilateral stance (p < 0.001) and movement velocity, reaction time and end-point excursion centre of gravity (COG) on the limits of stability test (p < 0.001). This new evidence demonstrates that there is a significant decline in medial-lateral balance in women that occurs between their forties and sixties. Suggestions for further study were made.