Abstract
Proprioceptive input may greatly affect postural stability. However, the proprioceptive postural strategy in elderly, middle-aged, and young people has not been investigated sufficiently. Hence, in this study, we aimed to investigate differences in proprioceptive postural strategies of elderly, middle-aged, and young people. The center of pressure displacement was determined in 23 elderly, 23 middle-aged, and 23 young people during upright stance on a balance board with their eyes closed. Vibratory stimulations at 30, 60, and 240 Hz were applied to the lumbar multifidus (LM) and gastrocnemius (GS) muscles to evaluate the contributions of different proprioceptive signals used in balance control. Compared with middle-aged and young people, elderly people showed a high dependence on postural control of the GS at 30 Hz (p-values: Young and elderly: 0.033; middle-aged and elderly: 0.001). Moreover, compared with young people, elderly people were more dependent on postural control of the LM at 240 Hz (p = 0.016). There were no significant differences with respect to the GS at 60 and 240 Hz, and with respect to the LM at 30 and 60 Hz between the elderly, young, and middle-aged people. Thus, the postural control strategy of elderly people depends on the GS at 30 Hz.
Highlights
Postural instability involves pain and declines in the postural strategy, muscle function, and ability of the proprioceptive system [1,2,3]
Risk factors associated with falls in elderly people include a decline in postural strategy and impairment of the proprioceptive system [6]
These results indicate that the postural strategy adopted by elderly individuals is dependent on the proprioceptive input via the Meissner corpuscles of the GS and Vater–Pacini corpuscles of the lumbar multifidus (LM)
Summary
Postural instability involves pain and declines in the postural strategy, muscle function, and ability of the proprioceptive system [1,2,3]. Postural strategy has been shown to be based on the location rather than being intrinsic to the proprioceptive system [4]. Other studies have reported that elderly people use a more rigid strategy that involves the ankle to cope with postural instability [5]. Risk factors associated with falls in elderly people include a decline in postural strategy and impairment of the proprioceptive system [6]. Proprioceptive impairment might further lead to instability in postural sway [1,2,3,4,5,6,7]. Muscle vibration, which is known to be a strong stimulus for the Meissner corpuscles, muscle
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