Carrying shopping bags does not alter static postural stability and gait parameters in healthy older females

Abstract

Bampouras, Theodoros and Dewhurst, Susan (2016) Carrying shopping bags does not alter static postural stability and gait parameters in healthy older females. Gait and Posture, Downloaded from: http://insight.cumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/2055/ Usage of any items from the University of Cumbria's institutional repository 'Insight' must conform to the following fair usage guidelines.Any item and its associated metadata held in the University of Cumbria's institutional repository Insight (unless stated otherwise on the metadata record) may be copied, displayed or performed, and stored in line with the JISC fair dealing guidelines (available here) for educational and not-for-profit activities provided that• the authors, title and full bibliographic details of the item are cited clearly when any part of the work is referred to verbally or in the written form Antero-posterior and medio-lateral displacement, and 95% ellipse area from a 30s quiet standing were used for postural stability assessment. Stride length and its coefficient of variation, total double support time, step asymmetry and gait stability ratio were calculated from one minute treadmill walking at self-selected speed for gait assessment. Carrying shopping bags did not negatively affect postural stability or gait variables, in either group.Further, in older individuals, a decrease in sway velocity was found when holding bags during the postural stability assessment (p<0.05), suggesting that carriage of bags, irrespective of the load distribution, may have a stabilising effect during quiet standing.. These results should help to alleviate concerns regarding safety of carrying shopping bags and help encourage shopping, both as a social and as a physical activity.

Effects of external loads on postural sway during quiet stance in adults aged 20–80 years

“…The present study shows a decrease in postural sway among the two oldest cohorts (60-69 and 70-79 years) when holding loads in the preferred, nonpreferred hand or in both hands. In agreement with the present findings, Bampouras and Dewhurst (2016) also reported that holding a light external load in the preferred or both hands (1.5 -3 kg) elicited significant reductions in the mean COP velocity in older, but not young adults. The present study is novel in that we show that the decrease in postural sway while holding a light external load are unique to older people as no changes were observed in young or intermediate age groups.…”

“…The reduction in postural sway among the older age groups could be interpreted as a favourable postural adaptation since an increases in postural sway can prospectively predict fall risk among older adults (Johansson et al 2017). The reductions in postural sway in our study (~20%) were more modest than the effect of a light touch of a stationary surface (~50%) (Albertsen et al 2010) but similar to the effect of holding a stick parallel to the ground (11-25%) (Ustinova and Langenderfer, 2013;VanderHill et al 2014) or a grocery bag (Bampouras and Dewhurst 2016). In future studies, it would be valuable to examine the effects of heavy external loads on postural sway among older people.…”

“…From this perspective, carrying an external load in the hands, as would be experienced during daily and occupational activities (i.e. shopping for groceries), may reduce the regulatory activity required to maintain postural sway during standing (Bampouras and Dewhurst 2016).…”

“…As most falls occur during ambulation in the elderly (Talbot et al 2005), in future studies it would be valuable to incorporate dynamic activities such gait initiation, treadmill walking, or perturbed stance to improve the 'real life' application of these findings. This is important, because if the stance is perturbed, a torsion effect would be created, making recovery more difficult (Bampouras and Dewhurst 2016).…”

“…Holding asymmetrical loads may consequently have important implications for older people because mediolateral aspects of postural sway have predictive value for fall incidence (Era et al 2006;Maki, Holliday and Topper 1994). More recently, it has been shown that holding a relatively light load in the hand (1.5 and 3.0 kg) did not alter postural sway in young or older females (Bampouras and Dewhurst 2016). The above study assessed symmetrical load and asymmetrical load in the preferred hand and included only young and older females, limiting the generalisability of their findings to both genders across the entire adult age spectrum.…”