Falls study: Proprioception, postural stability, and slips

Abstract

Abstract. The present study evaluated effects of exercise training on the proprioception sensitivity, postural stability, and the likelihood of slip-induced falls. Eighteen older adults (6 in balance, 6 in weight, and 6 in control groups) participated in this study. Three groups met three times per week over the course of eight weeks. Ankle and knee proprioception sensitivities and postural stability were measured. Slip-induced events were introduced for all participants before and after training. The results indicated that, overall, strength and postural stability were improved only in the training group, although proprioception sensitivity was improved in all groups. Training for older adults resulted in decreased likelihood of slipinduced falls. The study suggested that proprioception can be improved by simply being active, however, the results suggested that training would aid older adults in reducing the likelihood of slip-induced falls.

Proprioceptive activities to postural balance of the elderly - systematic review

“…One paper presented the strategy of 24 weeks of therapy [25], three recommended 12 weeks of therapy [19,20,26], two suggested 8 weeks [5,23], one paper recommended 6 weeks [21], two other papers recommended 5 weeks [22,25] and another one suggested 4 weeks [24]. The frequency of participation in activities was established between twice and three times a week, varying between 20-65 minutes per session.…”

“…The walking speed test was used by Sohn et al [5], Kelley et al [20], Kristinsdottir et al [21], Alfieri et al [23], and Nascimento et al [24]. Due to the neurophysiological complexity of the walking function, the measurement of the speed of execution of this function might be a valuable analysis for the risk of falls [28] and, therefore, for the evaluation of dynamic body balance.…”

“…The authors used several types of evaluation, depending on the objective of the study, among these were: muscular strength test [5,19,27], flexibility [19], time of walking speed [5,20,21,23,24], mobility [20,21], and postural balance [5, 19 -27].…”

“…The review of sensorial systems in the elderly body balance by Ricci et al [3] evidenced a reduction in the sharpness of the vestibular, visual and proprioceptive systems when compared to young adult people. Thus, unbalance reactions might become slower, generating a risk of falling [4][5][6]. The older the person is, the greater the instability of the frontal plane becomes [7], for example.…”

Efectividad de los miniplatos inestables para la mejora del equilibrio en pacientes geriátricos institucionalizados con síndrome de desequilibrio posterior. Ensayo clínico aleatorizado

“…El trabajo propioceptivo se muestra eficaz para prevenir los problemas de equilibrio del paciente anciano consiguiendo disminuir el riesgo de caídas (Sohn y Kim, 2015 8 ).…”