Postural adjustment strategies in the elderly subjected to the disturbance of catching a ball

Authors

  • Eloá Cristhina Carvalho Santos UNIVERSIDADE DO ESTADO DE SANTA CATARINA
  • Renato Claudino Faculdade Estácio de Sá de Santa Catarina
  • Marcio José Santos Universidade do Estado de Santa Catarina

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5585/conssaude.v12n1.3874

Keywords:

Electromyography, Elderly, Postural balance.

Abstract

Introduction: Age-related changes may cause important postural stability limitations in elderly individuals, such as deficits in anticipatory and compensatory postural adjustment strategies. However, knowledge of these strategies in these individuals when subjected to external postural perturbations commonly used in clinical settings is still unclear. Objective: To investigate the postural adjustments in elderly individuals subjected to external postural disturbances and compare them to those in young adults. Methods: The postural stability of twenty individuals (ten elderly and ten young individuals) subjected to the disturbance of a ball thrown by the experimenter was analyzed by measuring postural muscle EMG activity and the displacement of the body’s center of pressure. Results: The elderly subjects exhibited greater electromyographic activity and displacement of the center of pressure. Conclusion: Although the elderly had higher anticipatory muscle activation than the younger subjects, they showed greater postural instability, which may be related to the inefficiency in generating appropriate muscle synergisms.

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Published

2013-04-04

How to Cite

1.
Santos ECC, Claudino R, Santos MJ. Postural adjustment strategies in the elderly subjected to the disturbance of catching a ball. Cons. Saúde [Internet]. 2013 Apr. 4 [cited 2024 Jul. 2];12(1):70-81. Available from: https://periodicos.uninove.br/saude/article/view/3874

Issue

Section

Applied Sciences